ODOT's high tech traffic watch

There's another set of eyes watching the road in Oklahoma. It's an effort by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to better manage traffic with cameras that can spot slowdowns and dispatch

Wednesday, May 18th 2005, 9:21 am

By: News On 6

There's another set of eyes watching the road in Oklahoma. It's an effort by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to better manage traffic with cameras that can spot slowdowns and dispatch help to accidents.

News on 6 Reporter Emory Bryan says Alan Stephenson manages traffic for the Department of Transportation and from his Oklahoma City office, he's watching traffic in Tulsa on US highway 169. "It's all about using technology to improve the flow of traffic instead of just adding more lanes or buying more right of way."

It's called the Intelligent Traffic System and Oklahoma is just getting started on it. ODOT installed a dozen of these camera trees in Tulsa, each with several cameras on top. The cameras watch over the 12 busiest highway intersections, but ODOT plans to add 4 or 5 locations each year.

Theyâ€™ll mainly be used to monitor congestion and dispatch emergency help. "We can immediately respond to it before people ever start to call in." In Georgia, the Intelligent Traffic System is fully developed. From the Internet, commuters can look at traffic from hundreds of camera viewpoints, get travel times, and the latest construction and accident reports. Within a year, ODOT says Oklahoma will have a web site like that too.

As the system expands, the cameras will be connected into a system with speed sensors and even weather monitors, so anyone with access can get a clear picture of what's happening.

There's one thing it can't do - it can't be used to help catch speeders. Alan Stephenson: "The Department of Public Safety can't write tickets based on video, itâ€™s all about trying to monitor and respond to major incidents better."

The system cost millions, but the money comes from federal highway funds that can't be used for anything else. ODOT figures it will save more than it spends - saving money on building roads by better controlling traffic on the ones we already have.