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July 18, 2011 By News Staff
In New York City, streets and traffic jams seem almost synonymous, but to reduce the city’s high traffic congestion, on Monday, July 18, officials released a new technology-based traffic management system to monitor and adjust traffic in Midtown Manhattan.
The system, called Midtown in Motion, helps city traffic engineers identify congested traffic points and readjust traffic signal patterns in real time to reduce traffic jams. The system uses 100 microwave sensors, 32 traffic video cameras and E-ZPass readers at 23 intersections to track traffic volumes, congestion and record vehicle travel times, according to a New York City press release.
Data is sent wirelessly through the New York City Wireless Network to the city’s Traffic Management Center in Long Island City where the traffic signals are adjusted remotely. The real-time information from the Midtown in Motion system will become available on mobile devices such as PDAs and smartphones.
“Midtown is the heart of the region’s economy and also its congestion,” said Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan in a statement. “Midtown in Motion brings dynamic controls for a dynamic city to help keep its transportation network and economy moving.”
Early implementation stages for Midtown in Motion began last summer and ongoing upgrades have been made to the city’s traffic signal system.
Installation costs for the system were $1.6 million. To help fund the system, $1 million came from the city and the Federal Highway Administration funded $600,000, according to the release.
New York City drafted efforts to use technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution in PlaNYC, an initiative to help build the city’s economy, deal with climate change and improve quality of life for its citizens. The initiative was launched in 2007 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
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Traffic congestion in NYC is affected by heavy dumping/litering of trash/garbage along city streets and adjacent sidewalks, parks and public spaces. TRAVEL LEISURE, June 2011, has New York City the 5th Dirtiest Major U.S. City. Over 20 are KILLED in the NYC region each year in vehicle collisons caused by unremoved/dumped debris along public road/streets.
This is just a band-aid fix. A true solution would be to reduce the amount of traffic entering the during peak hours. This can be accomplished through congestion pricing like they're using across the pond. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge Bloomberg wants a nanny state anyway so he can just implement the automatic license plate readers and bill the owner of the vehicle, US Constitution be damned. As an added benefit, some parents might catch their kid taking the family car out for a joyride during a school day too.
Really, 20 people? How about the thousands who are impacted with stunted growth and shorter lifespan not to mention the multitude of cardiovascular and pulmonary issues associated with the pollution put out by the all of the vehicles. I'd bet money that the debris in the road is only part of the story with many of these fatalities. More than likely aggressive driving (NYC? go figure) and speed (reduced reaction time) were major factors as well.
any ROI? 1m6 is peanuts if it really resolves traffic issues in a city of 15m. Were 4 years required to embellish stuff and drive efficiency down?
First, U.S. Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood goes on a crusade to stop the dangerous use of cell phones while driving. Then he hands the NYC "traffic management" department a pile of cash to send "real-time information from the Midtown in Motion system" to "mobile devices such as PDAs and smartphones" operated by people driving on congested roads. Are these traffic engineer clowns joking?
The NHTSA keeps the debris/collison numbers--20 was the approx killed in 2009, latest year avail.