New Technology May Help Dallas Reduce Congestion

New technology to reduce congestion is part of a briefing Tuesday for members of the Dallas City Council on transportation challenges.

The discussion calls for integrating data from smartphones and smart vehicles to better coordinate traffic signals. The city has been replacing old, decaying traffic signals with new ones equipped for communication with a central traffic management center at Dallas City Hall.

The signals on Commerce Street are a good example of this upgrade.  They are synchronized to keep vehicles moving at a steady pace. The traffic management center has also received computer upgrades in recent years to communicate with far more signal locations.

“I think it’s a good idea. There’s a lot of smart traffic signals in Charlotte, Atlanta, that area, where they will move on as you go,” Driver Frank Field said.

Smartphones know when congestion is ahead because they network with other phones.

Signals from smart vehicles transmit information to manufacturers and driver assistance services.

The Dallas plan would obtain data from those sources that help control many more traffic signals.

Taylor Li, University of Texas at Arlington assistant civil engineering professor, specializes in traffic signals and advanced transportation management systems. Li said he has been communicating with the Dallas Transportation Director on this new data approach and that Dallas would be one of the first big cities to use it this way.

“Those data are very high quality and have a huge potential for future transportation systems. But the data size is exponentially growing, it’s a lot of data,” Li said.

The expert said there could be many benefits from a reduction of congestion.

“And also, of cost. These vehicles are moving faster. They have fewer crashes. You also reduce emissions, improving air quality. We have so many things we can do in the future. We have a bright future coming to us, with this new data,” Li said.

Some drivers had concerns about the new approach when told about it Monday.

“Well, it’s good thinking, but if you get too much technology, it’s just more stuff to go wrong,” driver Eric Carter said.

Driver Tony McCoy said he is concerned about privacy.

“The government tracks us close enough. They don’t need to track us any more than they do already. Nothing is private. They already know. They could do just a better job of monitoring the traffic with police officers,” he said.

There are also concerns that hackers could manipulate computer-controlled signals.

A vendor already provides some traffic management services to the City of Dallas.

The report to be presented to the Dallas City Council Tuesday suggests it would cost around $21 million over five years to install and maintain a much larger traffic management system with safeguards on the data and computer systems.

Li said he believes the advantages would exceed the cost.

The report also said Dallas needs substantial improvement in pavement markings, traffic signs and street lighting.