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Hillsborough Adding Cameras To Aid Traffic Flow

Tribune Photo by JAY NOLAN

Vik Bhide operates a 24-monitor video wall with a desktop computer at the traffic management center. The county plans to increase the number of cameras to help monitor traffic flow.

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By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2009

TAMPA - Hillsborough County is poised to get to work this summer upgrading its busiest intersections with cameras and other equipment to reduce congestion.

The $30 million upgrade is expected to take two to three years and involve 50 cameras. When finished, traffic engineers will be able to keep tabs on about 200 intersections and be able to make quick adjustments to the timing of signals as traffic is backing up. That, in turn, could go a long way to relieving rush-hour swamped intersections.

"The best thing about this is we can tweak it and monitor with the cameras and see if it's working, and do this in real time," said Peter Brett, manager of the county's traffic engineering section.

About 50 corners in Hillsborough are already covered by 30 cameras, which can swivel 360 degrees and peer a block or two down the road.

In addition to expanding its coverage, the county is upgrading its signal control boxes at intersections as well as the signal heads, swapping out the old incandescent bulbs with light emitting diodes that use 20 percent of the energy and last 20 years instead of a mere three years.

The new boxes will give the signals three hours of battery power in case power shuts down from electrical storms and hurricanes.

Similarly, in a few years, the county will shift its traffic management center from the 23rd floor of the County Center in downtown Tampa to a building in Sabal Park in East Tampa able to withstand Category 3 hurricanes.

"Whenever we have a hurricane threat, everything in this building shuts down. We can't monitor the traffic systems," said Brett.

Footage from the cameras is not being archived for law enforcement, and the cameras have nothing to do with the red-light cameras the Sheriff's Office plans to install to ticket drivers who run red lights.

The county's $30 million investment is part of the $500 million approved by county commissioners last year for road improvements across Hillsborough.

Most of that money will go toward purchasing rights of way and widening traffic-clogged roads and intersections. The county and a team of consultants are busy designing the highway changes now and negotiating to buy easements. Motorists won't see construction on those projects for another year.

Traffic management officials agree that more and wider roads are necessary, but they say motorists will get more bang for their buck from the signal technology, such as the LEDs, cameras and upgraded signal boxes.

"Studies show a 20-to-1 cost-benefit ratio," said Brett.

One such study released by the county last month and based on federal guidelines for measuring the financial impacts of traffic indicated an even higher cost-benefit ratio in Sarasota and Manatee counties and the cities of Sarasota, Bradenton and Venice.

Sarasota, for example, recently invested $3.7 million over seven years in signal technology. As a result, motorists, truckers and businesses in the city enjoyed a $25 million a year savings in gas and potential lost productivity – so for every dollar spent, the city received about $46 in benefits.

That's possible, said Brett, because the technology upgrades smoothed out the traffic flow.

"We think this will help us tremendously," he said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633.

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