Real-time traffic tech to ease Windsor construction delays

Windsor is making use of technology to help ease construction delays in the city.

The City of Windsor is launching new efforts to help reduce congestion, and improve safety in construction zones.

The city is implementing real-time traffic-flow monitoring at signalized intersections to help the construction routes, and detour routes.

With construction season among us, and some major projects taking place such as Howard Avenue and Division Road, the city’s transportation department is looking to make commuting easier for drivers.

Through this technology, traffic lights near and within construction zones and detour routes are now adjusted in real time by traffic systems technologists based on actual traffic flow, opposed to relying on pre-set schedules.

This has been a three-year process in collaboration with Windsor police to improve the systems at city intersections.

Ian Day, senior manager of transportation with the City of Windsor, says these cameras are installed along all major corridors.

“We’ve put up approximately 648 cameras at 162 intersections throughout the city. What this does is allows us to have real-time traffic management out there, it gives us a live view of the intersections, all four directions, and all the approaches in the intersection.”

According to Day, the cameras not only assist in the construction zones, but also the detour routes.

“What we did in anticipation of all this traffic from Howard and Division coming over to Dougall was install three new radar LiDAR [Light Detection and Ranging] systems out there, so there’s no affect of any of the environment on them, they’ll pick up cars and traffic all the time.”

Day noted, two full-time technicians monitor the systems to see if any changes need to be made to the traffic lights.

“We’ve got a video screen wall in our Traffic Operations Centre, so they can do live-time monitoring when we know we have an area with construction going on, we have detoured traffic. What they’ll do is they’ll look at those in the a.m./p.m. peak times, check the flows, and then make live changes to the timing,” he said.

These cameras are installed along all major corridors such as Tecumseh Road, Howard Avenue, Ouellette Avenue, Wyandotte Street, and Dougall Avenue, and in the downtown core.

In the case of Howard Avenue/Division Road, along with the introduction of this new technology, construction crews have also opened an additional southbound lane in front of Devonshire Mall to allow traffic to turn into the parking lot without impeding motorists who are not accessing the mall.

The Howard Avenue and Division Road construction is expected to be completed by the end of October.

— Meagan Delaurier/AM800 News