‘Smart crosswalk,’ real-time traffic alerts funded with UTC grant

Staff photo / A pedestrian crosses the street at the crosswalk at McCallie Avenue on July 12, 2023. A $500,000 grant from the state should help University of Tennessee at Chattanooga researchers improve traffic safety for pedestrians and drivers. Staff photo / A pedestrian crosses the street at the crosswalk at McCallie Avenue on July 12, 2023. A $500,000 grant from the state should help University of Tennessee at Chattanooga researchers improve traffic safety for pedestrians and drivers.

By Ellen Gerst May 24, 2025 5 min read

A half-million dollar grant and lots of real-time technology could help make Chattanooga intersections safer for drivers and pedestrians.

Researchers at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Center for Urban Informatics and Progress will put $500,000 awarded by the state’s Economic and Community Development Department toward two projects.

The projects would use data from cameras and other sensors at high-traffic intersections to alert drivers to people crossing and to make real-time calculations to alert drivers, pedestrians and cyclists to potential collisions and other dangers.

Pedestrian crashes and deaths have risen in recent years in Chattanooga, and a 2023 crash on Thanksgiving weekend that killed two people on Frazier Avenue brought further attention to the problem.

“How can we really take that research out of our lab into the real world?” Mina Sartipi, founding director of the center, said by phone.