ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: reporter's notebook
On average, it takes two and a half vehicles to transport the worldly belongings of a Virginia Tech freshman from home to dorm.
That's why, according to Tech's Chief of Police Mike Jones, it makes good sense to use a "blimp" to get an eagle-eye perspective of the more than 13,000 vehicles expected during this week's dormitory check-in.
Thousands of students will begin flooding into Blacksburg toward the end of the week as check-in begins officially Thursday and runs through Sunday.
On Saturday and Sunday, Jones and his officers will have the advantage of a remote-controlled camera attached to the bottom of an observation balloon shaped like a blimp, thanks to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The camera will help them pinpoint the enviable empty parking space, the less-congested intersection and the occasional unregistered vendor hocking reams of carpet, he said.
"We feel like we can get a good snapshot of all the intersections and will know when and where to send [our] people," Jones said.
It took FAA approval to fly the road-cone orange balloon, which will be tethered 500 feet above the campus chaos at the corner of West Campus Drive and Prices Fork Road with its video camera and zoom lens. It is about 20 feet long, 10 feet high and sports four fins on its tail, according to a VDOT official.
Jon DuFresne is an operations engineer for the Intelligent Transportation Systems division of VDOT located in the Richmond central office. He said the balloon is just one of many advancements in technology that highway departments across the country are using.
Some day, he explained, we will not be able to build a road to avoid traffic congestion. It will be a matter of using the existing roads more efficiently.
"Our endeavour is to manage our roadway system in a smarter way," DuFresne said.
This is the first time the system will be used in Virginia. The balloon, along with a converted bus that is used as the command center, are on loan to VDOT from Delaware.
DuFresne said Virginia may one day have its own version of the $125,000 system, but for now the state is training seven employees to use Delaware's equipment. The cost is $34 per day plus overtime pay and hotel expenses for the Delaware employees.
The balloon's camera gives the operators in the command center a view of a five-mile radius. With a touch of the joystick-like controls, VDOT employees will be able to rotate the camera and zoom in on problem areas.
David Clarke, assistant resident engineer for VDOT in Christiansburg, said he has not seen the balloon, but expects it to be helpful for events that draw thousands and create traffic control headaches in Southwest Virginia. Among the heavy traffic hitters Clarke named were the annual gun show in Hillsville, auto racing in Martinsville and, of course, the parade of thousands of faithful Virginia Tech football fans.
DuFresne said Delaware tested the "eye in the sky" at a recent NASCAR race and it performed well. He expects the same results here.
"The intent is to provide better coordination and communication to direct traffic," he said.
What it means to Jones' police force is the possibility of eliminating the one officer per intersection rule used in the past.
"We will be able to monitor more areas with fewer resources," Jones said
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB