Sensors installed along a segment of Interstate 94 could help improve safety, limit speeding, and alert officials to potholes and debris.
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Cavnue, a Washington, D.C.-based technology firm, are launching a “smart road” pilot project designed to make roads safer and traffic flow more efficient.
According to an article by Anne Snabes in The Detroit News, “The pilot is the first stage of a larger project, which envisions a technology-enabled express lane along each direction of I-94 between Ann Arbor and Detroit.”
Snabes adds that “It's one of several examples of how connected vehicle technology is being adopted on roads in Metro Detroit. The Macomb County Department of Roads has set up devices at all of its signalized intersections that will tell future cars information, such as if they're about to run a red light. Oakland County has added these devices to a small number of its intersections, and Wayne County is using technology to track salt trucks.”
The I-94 project involves a special road coating, sensor poles, and fiber installed under the roadway. The sensor poles collect data that will be used to communicate with vehicles to help reduce speeding, alert drivers to pedestrians and cyclists in intersections, and recognize things like debris and potholes in the roadway.
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