NEXT ITS CAMERA LOCATIONS* Keith Street at Harrison Pike* APD 40 at Blackburn Road* APD 40 at McGrady Drive* I-75 at Georgetown Road* I-75 at Paul Huff Parkway* Paul Huff Parkway at North Lee HighwaySource: Cleveland Utilities
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Bradley motorists may experience more-coordinated traffic by the end of 2010.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation is planning to install more cameras at several key intersections as part of what is called an intelligent transportation system.
TDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Flynn said Nabco Electric Co. of Chattanooga is installing intelligent transportation system cameras. The $941,248.50 contract should be completed by March, she said. The project, which is federally funded, is on schedule.
The ITS cameras are different from the city’s five red-light cameras, allowing the city’s traffic engineering department to monitor traffic congestion and time traffic lights accordingly.
And traffic signals are being planned at another key location, the often-congested exit 25 from Interstate 75 onto Keith Street.
Dennis Daniel, manager of Cleveland Utilities Electric Division, recently updated the utility board on the project.
“This last month, work orders were issued to provide electric service for six locations where ITS cameras are slated to be installed,” Mr. Daniel said. “These will be the first intersections around the city equipped with these types of cameras.
“They will allow for visually monitoring traffic conditions and allow for the modification of the signal itself, and the timing,” he said. “Provided all these controllers are manually reset after a timing change, the system should be a real benefit to the city.”
The systems also can keep traffic flowing freer when 25th Street or Paul Huff Parkway is used as a detour to U.S. 11 when I-75 in the fog zone is shut down.
Such cameras already have been installed at some key points as well as along APD 40 in preparation for the future APD 40 interchange and any changes to exit 20.
City Council members have voiced concern about traffic congestion as Cleveland grows, including the increased use of gasoline as drivers sit at one red light only to drive to the next one and stop again.
But the intelligent camera grid is only one part of the year’s traffic plans.
In December, the City Council authorized Mayor Tom Rowland to sign a contract with TDOT to bring traffic signals for the first time to exit 25 onto 25th Street. It’s an intersection where, for decades, drivers coming off I-75 have had to negotiate four lanes of traffic at one of the busiest intersections without a traffic signal.
“It seems to me we are getting very congested in many areas, and we have been for a long time,” Vice Mayor Avery Johnson said at a recent council meeting.