Using remote sensing, GPS technology and other high-tech strategies, city traffic planners aim to clear Midtown's infamous traffic problems - from Queens. The $1.6 million investment will tackle a problem costing the city about $13 billion a year.
Will hi-tech do what congestion pricing might have done? In any case, it's much less controversial, does not have to be approved by the state legislature, and much, much cheaper.
Mayor Bloomberg "hailed it as the greatest traffic innovation since the city's grid system, saying engineers with the city Department of Transportation will use data from live street feeds to battle gridlock at the very moment motorists are leaning on their horns and giving each other the one-fingered salute."
"Dubbed 'Midtown in Motion', the $1.6 million system relies on more than 100 motion detectors, dozens of cameras and data gathered from drivers' E-ZPasses to compile immediate info on the most congested streets in the city. That info is beamed wirelessly back to the windowless control room in Long Island City to the traffic engineers."
From Daily News: "The city paid $600,000 and the Obama administration provided about $1 million for the system. The DOT will review data collected over the next six months before expanding the system to another area of midtown with the expectation of eventually going citywide, officials said."
Thanks to Streetsblog New York City
FULL STORY: City gets street smart
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