Skip to main content

GTT aids cyclist safety in Minneapolis

In a bid to improve conditions for cyclists in Minneapolis, Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) using existing infrastructure and its Canoga 9004 system to detect and react to bikes at intersections. The traffic detection system is now able to recognise both vehicle and bicycles and the Canoga card reacts quickly enough to give cyclists a green light without needing to slow down or wait at the intersection or navigate a red light. Previously, only vehicles would trigger green traffic signals at intersectio
July 14, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
In a bid to improve conditions for cyclists in Minneapolis, 542 Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) using existing infrastructure and its Canoga 9004 system to detect and react to bikes at intersections. The traffic detection system is now able to recognise both vehicle and bicycles and the Canoga card reacts quickly enough to give cyclists a green light without needing to slow down or wait at the intersection or navigate a red light.

Previously, only vehicles would trigger green traffic signals at intersections, which meant that a cyclist halt at an intersection undetected, waiting for a car to approach to activate the signal.

Where possible, the city wanted to implement bicycle detection at key signalised intersections, without investing in expensive detection technologies and leveraging the existing infrastructure, avoiding cutting new loops or mounting new pole-based detection technologies.

Using the existing advanced detector loops and the Canoga 9004 traffic sensing technology in the traffic cabinet, the traffic department was able to detect and classify bicycles with enough time to trigger the intersection green lights before the cyclist has arrived. This information is also calculated, recorded and stored for subsequent data retrieval through an Ethernet-enabled connection.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Changing roles in data collection for traffic management
    January 23, 2012
    Transport for Greater Manchester's David Hytch discusses the evolving roles of the public and private sector in managing and disseminating data. Data services for traffic management were once the sole preserve of public sector organisations, they being uniquely placed and equipped for the work involved. Now, though, this is changing. There is even a presumption in some countries that the private sector will take a greater, if not actually a lead, role in the provision of information for transport management
  • Car parking and parked cars need not be a technological black hole
    March 19, 2015
    David Crawford mines the potential of joined-up parking. Drivers conventionally see parking as an isolated, often frustrating, action; but collectively their attempts to find a space impact hugely on traffic flows. But new analyses of parking events look set to deliver real benefits to motorists and cities alike. Initiatives getting under way around the world are highlighting the advantages of connecting up parking events and – eventually - parked cars. The hoped-for results include not only enhanced urban
  • Website tracks health effects of walking and cycling
    August 8, 2017
    Andrew Bardin Williams looks at a new online biking and walking benchmark report that allows transportation practitioners to compare communities and track progress. Transportation and public health are inextricably linked. The more people are encouraged to opt out of single occupancy vehicles, the healthier the overall community becomes. Sure, fewer pollutants are released into the air and commuters spend less time in traffic, but it’s the push to get people to ditch fully motorised transportation options a
  • Santa Clara light rail calls for Econolite TSP detection
    August 9, 2024
    Installations in California will detect transit signal priority calls on four corridors