THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501180405
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
This summer, the roads will have eyes.
The state Department of Transportation will make its latest foray into the future this July when it begins a transportation management system to instantly monitor road conditions.
Faced with an accident ahead on Interstate 264? An array of changeable signs will instantly warn motorists of the pending delay and suggest alternate routes. Back at home, local television stations will beam the gridlock into your living room. You may also be able to turn to an ``all-traffic'' channel on local cable.
Worried about the trip home from the mall? Stop by a soon-to-be-installed computerized public kiosk and touch a screen to instantly find out about the jams that await you.
In many ways, it's a central nervous system for local highways.
Journalists toured the system's headquarters on Tuesday and were asked to help transportation officials decide how to use the information.
The first phase of the project, which is expected to be on-line in late July, will cost about $11 million - the Federal Highway Administration is paying for about 90 percent of the bill. The second phase, which will triple the size of the system, is estimated to cost between $15 million and $20 million. It should be on-line in stages, beginning in the spring of 1997.
During the first phase, 38 cameras mounted on 50-foot towers will scan 19 miles of highways for congestion, accidents and other problems. The cameras can pan 355 degrees and focus on anything from a license plate to a mile of backed-up traffic.
About 600 magnetic ``loops'' imbedded in the roadway will count traffic flow and speed instantly, feeding the information via fiber-optic cable to computers that will then try to predict traffic flow down the road.
The monitors will even classify what kind of vehicles are passing by, giving transportation officials an accurate count of which local highways are being used and by what types of vehicles.
``Futuristic highways is what we're all about,'' said Stephany D. Hanshaw, the systems engineer for the new Transportation Management System center, located in a Colonial brick building at Interstate 64 and Indian River Road.
``We're aiming to predict traffic conditions before they happen,'' he said. ``This is the beginning of the solution to traffic problems in Hampton Roads.''
The future isn't here quite yet. Transportation officials still have to decide how this information is to be disseminated to TV stations and other takers. At a meeting Tuesday, most television representatives wanted to be able to videotape the accidents.
The towers are in place, but the cameras are not. Some of the ``loop'' detectors have yet to be installed. And when asked the cost of those computerized kiosks during the media tour Tuesday, state officials couldn't say how many would be installed, where or at what cost.
The new system's control room is still covered in plastic. And the black wall holding the first 38 television screens is blank.
The new center is unique in that it is the first Transportation Department project to be manned solely by private employees. It's part of a state initiative to privatize more public entities. A similar center in Northern Virginia has been in use for 10 years.
Transportation officials said their most important goal is managing traffic flow - not catching speeders, despite the 24-hour presence of a state police officer in the control room.
``We will not use the information for enforcement,'' said Carl T. Crowe, the operations engineer for the new facility. ``We will monitor speeds, but not for enforcement purposes. But if we see a motorist who is endangering the lives of others, we'll notify police. But it's going to have to be pretty blatant. And if it happens, it happens.'' ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN/Staff color photos
Cameras will be mounted on 38 towers along Interstates 64 and 264
and the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway. The cameras can focus on
a license plate or the entire road.
Magnetic loops embedded in the roadway will relay information to the
control room, where officials will be able to track how many of what
kind of vehicles are driving how fast on which roads.
Graphic
STAFF
TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
SOURCE: Virginia Dept. of Transportation
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB