Wireless Traffic Management

About the Program

Category: Transportation (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Los Angeles is infamous for its smog, sigalerts, and traffic jams. Traffic is a problem for everyone here, but Public Works is striving to improve traffic countywide with a wireless communications system. This system provides traffic signal improvements to commuters through more than 30 agencies. Their challenge extended well beyond the technological improvements needed to provide traffic signal communications over a wide area for these agencies and their commuters. It involved gaining the cooperation of many cities and to feed that information to the County’s Alhambra Traffic Management Center. Prior to the initiation of this project, almost all traffic signals were operating independently throughout 57 cities. After eliminating fiber optic and leased telephone line solutions because of their high costs, they adopted a wireless communication standard. As a result, traffic signals are in the process of being monitored using Ethernet radios and broadband wireless technology at nearly 1000 intersections countywide. This allows both County and city staff to react in real time to traffic problems and adjust the signal timing to relieve congestion. At the same time, this solution reduces both the set up and operating costs for signal communication to reduce traffic problems for many commuters.