A long-time pet peeve for London drivers may soon be no more.
The civic works committee gave its unanimous support Tuesday night to spending $135,860 to hire LEA Consulting to help staff formalize the needs of a new transportation system.
Currently, traffic signals in London utilize time based coordination which uses pre-defined traffic signal timings that vary depending on the time of day. The system, which has been in place since 2003, has long frustrated commuters who say the traffic lights aren’t synchronized.
Edward Soldo, London’s director of roads and transportation, says the city wants to move into the “next century” by moving to an Intelligent Transportation System.
“It’s really about bringing in more of a state-of-the-art traffic signal system, looking at adaptive control along key corridors that respond to traffic volume,” said Soldo.
The new system would use video monitoring to continuously adjust to changing traffic volumes. City staff say the smart system would address London’s rapid transit needs while improving travel time and reducing congestion.
“I am looking forward to the day when I can invited people that I know who live in Hamilton to come to London to see how quickly it is to move across the city,” said Mayor Matt Brown.
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Two years ago the city of Hamilton introduced a new high-tech traffic control system to better coordinate traffic.
London currently has 396 traffic signals with two to four new signals added each year. Each traffic signal has a microcomputer to control the operation of the signal and the microcomputers are managed by a traffic signal system that was installed 14 years ago.
A city report says the traffic signal system has been kept up-to-date since it was installed, but the city has grown over the last decade and a half.
Brown says the new system will work alongside London’s yet-to-be fully financed bus rapid transit system.
“We talk about how we’re going to move traffic through our community, how we’re going to fight congestion and rapid transit is certainly part of this and this work is a big part of rapid transit,” he said.
There’s no timetable for when the new system will be in place.
The issue now goes to London city council next week for final approval.
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