London is moving ahead on updating the traffic signalling system used at intersections in an effort to ease congestion.
The civic works committee signed off on a new traffic signal system at its meeting on Tuesday. The system is meant to better manage traffic lights in the city.
Manager of roadway lighting and traffic control Shane Maguire says new micro-computers will be installed at more than 400 traffic signals in London beginning later this year and will be fully operational by the end of 2020.
“That would include having the CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras in order to monitor traffic in real-time and make adjustments in real-time,” he said.
“One component of the system is the adaptive traffic signals system, which self-adjusts in real-time. It requires a considerable amount of hardware in the field in order for it to know traffic volumes and patterns in real-time.”
Maguire says the city will pilot the adaptive system towards the end of 2020.
The cost of the $4.4-million project will be entirely covered by transit funding from the federal and provincial governments.
The existing traffic signal synchronization used by the city is 15 years old.
Committee chair Phil Squire says the ultimate goal of the project is to better streamline traffic for vehicles and public transit. He is hopeful the city can build on the system to prioritize buses to help keep them on schedule and get people around the city more efficiently.
“The number one complaint about traffic is that the bus is late, but that’s often not the fault of the bus or the bus driver, it’s just traffic and traffic not flowing properly, so this will help with that,” said Squire.
“These are all important things that are going to help the transit system.”
Council will give the final say on the project when it meets next week.
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