FDOT coordinates with THEA on TAMPA connected vehicle pilot

Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 7 will provide over 40 video traffic detectors at 12 intersections to allow improved traffic signals to operate at Tampa’s Connected Vehicle Pilot. The project, launched by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA), plans to use vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication to reduce travel times and make traffic flow smoother and safer in the region’s commercial business district (CBD).
December 13, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
4503 Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 7 will provide over 40 video traffic detectors at 12 intersections to allow improved traffic signals to operate at Tampa’s Connected Vehicle Pilot. The project, launched by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA), plans to use vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication to reduce travel times and make traffic flow smoother and safer in the region’s commercial business district (CBD).


The pilot is partly funded by THEA and the U.S. Department of Transportation. It involves installing radios and computers in over 1,600 vehicles including private cars, buses, and streetcars and in over 40 fixed locations at downtown intersections to enable ultra-fast vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and V2I communication. In addition, over 500 area residents will be supplied with cell-phone applications to alert equipped nearby vehicles when pedestrians are crossing a street.

During the design phase, THEA’s project engineers worked with the University of Arizona who learned that signal control optimization can reach its full potential only when over 90% of the vehicles approaching the intersection have known location and speeds. The number of vehicles instrumented for V2I communication as part of the pilot would provide a far smaller percentage of vehicle coverage. A method of obtaining information on all vehicles approaching the instrumented intersections was needed.

After considering several technologies, FDOT paid for the procurement and installation of the detectors along Florida Avenue and Nebraska Avenue which is also part of the upcoming Managed Lanes Tampa Bay Express project. HNTB will provide the design to integrate them with the rest of the connected vehicle pilot operation under its existing general engineering contract. THEA will supply 10 Bluetooth detectors to determine travel time between points on these streets and along Meridian Avenue. These technologies will not identify or retain any information about individual drivers or vehicles.

Location Based Systems

Related Content

  • May 4, 2016
    Priority boosts ridership and cuts congestion
    Transit priority is proving a win-win in Europe and Australia. David Crawford reports. Technology that integrates with the Australian-originated Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) is driving bus signal priority and performance analysis initiatives on both sides of the world; in its homeland, with a major deployment in 2015, and in the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
    Read More
  • September 4, 2018
    ITS instrumental in reducing Texan congestion
    ITS projects in the Houston area have seen costs crunched – and even a system failure has proved valuable in analysing performance. David Crawford reports on developments in the Lone Star state Savings by Texan public agencies are major factors in the recent ITS Texas awards, recognising beneficial initiatives in bridge strike prevention and traffic intersection control. In the first, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)’s Houston District, covering the state’s most populous city and its surround
    Read More
  • May 21, 2012
    Professional training key to the future of ITS
    A substantial portfolio of resources is available and expanding, to help employers and professionals build essential skills for current and future needs – the ITS Professional Capacity Building Program. Pete Goldin reports. The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) views ITS as key to the future of transportation, as is evident from the department’s ITS Professional Capacity Building (PCB) program. This is a further manifestation of USDOT’s commitment to ITS. The PCB program provides anyone in the transpo
    Read More
  • March 16, 2016
    Westminster detects disabled parking bay abuse
    Westminster trials scheme to detect non-qualifying motorists using disabled parking bays. The provision of disabled parking bays has become commonplace - but so has the abuse of these bays by able-bodied motorists. Now, London’s Westminster City Council is running a trial of technology that detects when a vehicle is illegally parked in a disabled bay.
    Read More

Highlighted Content