Skip to main content

San Mateo Smart Corridor project

San Mateo County in California is to implement a US$35 million dollar smart corridor project which will apply the latest management technology along twenty miles of El Camino Real from San Bruno to Menlo Park and on local streets in San Mateo County. “We’re working together to help people get to where they are going easier and faster,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “This is a good example of how technology can help us make better use of the roads we already have.” The Intelligent Transportation
November 9, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
San Mateo County in California is to implement a US$35 million dollar smart corridor project which will apply the latest management technology along twenty miles of El Camino Real from San Bruno to Menlo Park and on local streets in San Mateo County.

“We’re working together to help people get to where they are going easier and faster,” said 3879 Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “This is a good example of how technology can help us make better use of the roads we already have.”

The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) includes a fibre optic communication system that will connect to Caltrans’ Transportation Management Center in Oakland and ten San Mateo County cities; electronic message signs that guide motorists through detour routes during freeway incidents; sensors providing information about the volume of traffic at specific locations; and closed circuit television cameras allowing Caltrans and the ten cities to monitor traffic flow and determine the most effective way to reroute motorists during major congestion.

“Drivers will benefit from this innovative use of technology,” said Rich Napier, executive director of the city/county Association of Governments of San Mateo County. “When a traffic incident occurs, motorists will be provided with real-time information to help them choose whether to remain on the highway, choose a detour, or travel to the nearest public transit station.”

One of the major benefits of the project is that it will link more than 250 state and local traffic signals, enabling the signal timing to be adjusted remotely to better manage the flow of traffic during incidents, eliminating the need to drive to the signal to make adjustments.

The project also will improve communication and coordination among emergency responders, local agencies and Caltrans because they will all have access to the same information.

“We are excited to be a part of this cooperative effort to improve travel in San Mateo County,” said Bijan Sartipi, Caltrans District 4 Director. “Smart corridor projects are an important component of Bay Area mobility and Caltrans is working with its partners to blaze a trail on this promising new technology.”

Related Content

  • December 15, 2015
    Mobility as a Service gaining traction in US and Europe
    As Mobility as a Service starts to move into the mainstream of transport planning, David Crawford compares European and North American initiatives. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a concept fast gaining traction on both sides of the Atlantic as a way of giving travellers digital multimodal one-stop shops and journey planning tools as an alternative to private car use. Planned delivery methods include subscription-based travel packages in Europe, and 'mobility aggregator' apps, including employee commute ben
  • December 5, 2013
    FOTsis targets ‘socially inclusive’ cooperative ITS
    The FOTsis project addresses the imbalances between the vehicular and infrastructure sides of cooperative ITS infrastructures and looks to ensure road operators can help to enrich future technology applications. By Jason Barnes. Several developments have conspired to push the vehicular side of cooperative infrastructures/cooperative ITS to the fore in recent years. The automotive industry’s rather shorter product development and lifecycles combined with economic slowdown in many regions gave rise to the not
  • August 26, 2014
    ITS America Announces 2014 Best of ITS Awards Finalists
    ITS America has announced the list of finalists for the 2014 Best of ITS Awards, the highly competitive program which recognises the most innovative projects and influential achievements in the high-tech transportation community. Finalists will be recognised, and the winners announced, during the ITS America Awards Breakfast session at the 21st World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, Tuesday, September 9, 2014 from 7:30 to 8:30am at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. The Best of ITS Awards rec
  • July 8, 2019
    Cost benefit: Wichita eases workzone congestion
    Achieving higher diversion rates has helped one Kansas city to make traffic flow more efficient around workzones. David Crawford examines what’s behind a 10:1 benefit-to-cost ratio in Wichita Around 10% of highway congestion in the US results from delays in workzones, leading to an estimated annual loss of $700 million in fuel costs alone. The lack of accessible real-time traffic information to help motorists minimise their inconvenience – particularly at peak times - is a major contributor. One solut