The Ohio Department of Transportation and the city of Marysville announced this week that all of the city's 27 traffic lights will be upgraded with connected technology, along with 1,200 vehicles.
Last month, Honda and Marysville debuted "the world's most connected intersection" that links information from the street to a car equipped with certain technology. The system uses audio and visual warnings on a small screen on the windshield to warn drivers of an upcoming risk.
The technology is able to alert drivers if a pedestrian is crossing the street, a car is running a red light or an emergency vehicle is approaching.
"This technology is going to disrupt transportation for the better like we haven't seen since the creation of the interstate system," Jim Barna, executive director of DriveOhio, said in a news release.
Transmitters and displays will be placed on 800 government vehicles including those run by the Ohio Department of Transportation, city of Marysville, and local law enforcement and school districts, along with 400 cars owned by volunteers.
"That's about 10 percent of the traffic here, making it the highest concentration of connected vehicles in the country," Mike Andrako, Marysville public services director, said in a news release. "That's important because it shows us how the technology will work when it's is rolled out to more cars and larger cities across the U.S."
The project is a collaboration among Marysville; Honda; and DriveOhio, an ODOT initiative advancing smart mobility technologies throughout the state.
Marysville's partnership is part of the 33 Smart Mobility Corridor project, a 35-mile stretch of U.S. Route 33 in central Ohio where the state is investing $15 million to install advanced highway technology. Honda will use 200 connected vehicles for evaluation in the 33 Smart Mobility Corridor and Smart Columbus projects.
©2018 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
