Traffic Signals Get Smarter With New Program

If there is one problem that unites Manatee and Saraosta counties it's traffic. Too fast through the neighborhoods, too slow on the arterial roads. 

“Advanced Traffic Management System,” a multimillion dollar bi-county effort, is working to speed up traffic on the arterials. By linking signals and sensors with fiber-optic cable to a command center, engineers hope to increase both the speed and volume of traffic.

Headquarters for the effort are in Samoset, at the Manatee County Emergency Operations Center. Inside is a mission control worthy of a rocket launch, with consoles where operators can tweak signals when necessary. 

“We’re trying to make it a regional center,” said Sage Kamiya, Manatee County’s senior traffic engineer. “The ultimate goal is people won’t know or care.”

A total of 231 Manatee traffic signals will report to “mission control,” where trained  personnel will use cameras and other sensors to monitor traffic flow and make adjustments when necessary.

For example, if there is an emergency, and rescue vehicles are dispatched, traffic controllers will be able to “green-light” them through the intersections. 

In Sarasota County, the emergency vehicles will carry a hockey-puck-like device to provide green lights ahead. Once they pass, the system will reset the timing of the lights, which could take several minutes.

“The brains are in the street,” said Kamiya.

In Manatee County, the “mission controllers” will talk with the 9-1-1 dispatchers to estimate the route and timing of emergency vehicles, “and start shaving the green and adding times to that path,” he said. “That’s the goal.”

Other adjustments might include re-timing lights to accommodate a traffic accident. 

Kamiya estimates the system will be active in February. After that, engineers will use the sensors to consider re-timing some of the traffic lights in the system. Despite the operators in “mission control,” most of the lights will continue to run on timers under normal circumstances.

“We will make adjustments since the last data was collected,” he said. “That will be the real impact” of the new system. He plans to do “travel runs” before and after the system is operational. 

More than 50 television cameras at intersections are part of the system and the video is displayed at “mission control” to allow real-time observation. But Kamiya notes these cameras do not have a surveillance function.

“The video is not recorded,” he said. “Traffic is the purpose, not surveillance.”

The intersections range from signals at the Anna Maria Island bridges to Palmetto to one east of the interstate. The two-county program cost $15 million and was paid for with local and state money. While expensive, it costs far less than buying right-of-way and adding lanes for traffic.