AI Traffic Management Comes to Dallas-Fort Worth

Cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex are using AI to help manage traffic, reports the Dallas Morning News. Cities like Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth, Garland, and McKinney are using a platform called NoTraffic, which uses AI to lengthen yellow lights and hold cross traffic if an approaching car isn’t slowing or to give a green light to police and emergency vehicles like ambulances or fire trucks.

“Variabilities in traffic patterns, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, are making it harder for planners to pin down peak hours and anticipate logjams ... With North Texas’ growing population bringing more traffic to city intersections, newer tech such as sensors can provide a more complete picture of traffic flows as they continue to change,” writes reporter Amber Gaudet.

Gaudet reports that Arlington will spend an estimated $1 million over the next two years for the technology, which will come from bond funds allocated for signal improvements.

In addition to the real-time signal changes, a local planner say the system provides greater access to data about “exactly what kind of traffic intersections gets,” which allows planners and public safety officials to better plan for and respond to changing conditions, and better plan for pedestrians as well. Tom Cooper, vice president of public sector sales for NoTraffic, told the Dallas Morning News, “Typically, transportation planning and technologies were set up to serve vehicles, yet we have this other population of pedestrians and bicyclists, underserved communities, that typically were not factored into that planning. Equity with transportation is also a major piece of what most agencies want to achieve, and these technologies can help them achieve those goals.”