Chattanooga’s smart streets may soon start talking.
The City Council on Tuesday approved an agreement between the city’s transporation department and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for a program that will allow freight and emergency vehicles to communicate with the city’s traffic signal system.
The idea of the pilot program is to use technology to help those vehicles move more easily through the city and improve traffic safety. And while there are many potential benefits, there’s no cost to the city.
“If there’s a truck coming from Knoxville, and there’s an accident in Charleston blocking access to Enterprise South, the device could relatively automatically communciate to the driver. There’s no sense in going 72 mph because of the delay, it’s better to slow down to 55 and save gas,” said city Transportation Director Blythe Bailey.
Kevin Comstock, the city’s signal system engineer, said the system also could help large trucks and emergency vehicles get where they are going by giving them priority.