Skip to main content

Remote-monitoring system helps keep Arizona city moving

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has installed a wireless communication system allowing technicians in Phoenix to monitor conditions and adjust signal timing accordingly on State Route 347 through Maricopa. The system has a series of infrared and video cameras installed at each SR 347 intersection, allowing an ADOT technician in Phoenix to see exactly what is happening and modify the length of traffic signals to improve traffic flow. Another part of the system automatically monitors tra
December 8, 2016 Read time: 1 min
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has installed a wireless communication system allowing technicians in Phoenix to monitor conditions and adjust signal timing accordingly on State Route 347 through Maricopa.

The system has a series of infrared and video cameras installed at each SR 347 intersection, allowing an ADOT technician in Phoenix to see exactly what is happening and modify the length of traffic signals to improve traffic flow.

Another part of the system automatically monitors travel times between intersections using wi-fi signals, such as those from smartphones. That anonymous information can alert ADOT technicians to delays.

Similar systems are used to remotely monitor traffic signals in Nogales, along State Route 77 in the Tucson area and in the Phoenix area.

The technology was installed this past summer in Maricopa. Over the coming months, researchers from the University of Arizona will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the system.

Related Content

  • January 20, 2012
    Social media a one-stop shop for travel information
    Exponentially widening mobile phone ownership is opening up the field to new ways of obtaining and disseminating better travel information from and to public transport users, via for example social media and tracking riders' phones. Over 50 US transit agencies, including major actors such as TriMet, in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, Dallas Area Rapid Transit in Texas, and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), as well as smaller operators, now have Facebook and/or Twitter accoun
  • February 1, 2019
    Flir updates ThermiCam2 thermal traffic sensor and detector
    Flir has upgraded its thermal traffic sensor and detector with traffic data collection features. The company says ThermiCam2 uses thermal energy emitted from road users – rather than light - to detect vehicles and vulnerable road users at night, over long distances and in harsh weather conditions. According to Flir, the solution can be used to detect vehicles and bicycles approaching an intersection, detect wrong-way drivers, count and distinguish vehicles from bicycles and collect traffic data using the
  • February 21, 2019
    Flir updates ThermiCam2
    Flir has upgraded its thermal traffic sensor and detector with traffic data collection features. The company says ThermiCam2 uses thermal energy emitted from road users – rather than light - to detect vehicles and vulnerable road users at night, over long distances and in harsh weather conditions. According to Flir, the solution can be used to detect vehicles and bicycles approaching an intersection, detect wrong-way drivers, count and distinguish vehicles from bicycles and collect traffic data using
  • September 13, 2016
    Flir to show thermal solutions in Melbourne
    Recent innovations in thermal imaging for traffic applications, including the Flir TrafiOne smart sensor and the Flir FC-Series AID thermal imaging camera will feature on the Flir stand at the ITS World Congress Melbourne.