CTS News

Smart Van to Collect Traffic Data

By JON GLASS, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 25, 2001

VIRGINIA BEACH -- As Hampton Roads highways grow more congested, traffic engineers continue to become more sophisticated in trying to manage the heavy flow. Their latest tool: a Ford cargo van outfitted with a 42-foot-tall telescoping mast and enough video and computer gadgetry to satisfy the most demanding of techno geeks.

The ``smart travel'' van, designed by University of Virginia civil-engineering students and faculty, is the state's first mobile traffic-data collection lab.

The high-tech vehicle, which cost about $100,000, will be used to gather information to help improve safety and ease congestion on some of the region's most heavily used and accident-prone roads.

It works by taking video of passing cars and trucks from atop the mast and using computer software to convert the images into data detailing such things as vehicle speed, volume and flow.

State transportation officials are turning to such technology to better manage traffic flow and ensure that existing highways carry the most cars they can as smoothly as possible.

It's a giant leap from the days when collecting data meant hiring people to sit beside the road and count cars.

``The whole thing is pretty gee-whiz,'' said Catherine C. McGhee, senior research scientist at the Virginia Transportation Research Council. ``It's state-of-the-art equipment and completely portable.''

Officials showcased the van Tuesday after celebrating another milestone at the Virginia Department of Transportation's Smart Traffic Center off Indian River Road: the addition of 14 new closed-circuit video cameras to monitor another seven miles of Interstate 264 and the opening of a new $2.1 million building that will support expansion of VDOT's Freeway Incident Response Team.

Officials use the cameras -- which now monitor 26 miles of I-64 and I-264 -- to detect accidents and other traffic problems, often triggering action by the incident response team.

In 2000, the team's 32 drivers assisted some 33,000 motorists and helped pick up road debris and clear traffic after accidents on the two interstates. They changed more than 3,100 flat tires alone, or about nine every day. VDOT plans to nearly double the size of the team.

``Anytime you've got more eyes and ears on the highway it benefits the public,'' said state Police Lt. Andy Engemann, based in Chesapeake. ``The solution in the past was to add more concrete. What we have to do now is manage the roads we have more efficiently.''

That's what the new smart travel van is meant to do.

The vehicle, manufactured by a company that supplies the television industry, was retrofitted by U.Va.'s Smart Travel Laboratory, a transportation research facility jointly run by the university's civil engineering department and VDOT's Transportation Research Council.

The idea was to create a flexible mobile lab able to park on the shoulder of any road to collect data and that also could check the accuracy of static VDOT traffic sensors embedded in highways around the state.

With its bridge-tunnels, seasonal traffic and military bases, Hampton Roads will offer the the mobile lab plenty to monitor, said Brian Smith, a U.Va. assistant professor of civil engineering and co-director of the Smart Travel Lab.

``You can have significant changes in traffic almost overnight, and looking into ways to manage those changes brings up some interesting research issues,'' Smith said.

The van, after monitoring traffic at a signal light, can plug into the system to alter the timing to adjust for heavy traffic. It also can change the message on the roadside electronic message boards VDOT uses to alert motorists to traffic conditions.

James Mock, operations engineer at VDOT's Smart Traffic Center, said data collected by the van may help transportation officials understand why accidents occur at certain locations and to develop measures to prevent them. It also might provide insight into easing rush-hour congestion.

``It's pretty awesome,'' said Connie Klass, a VDOT employee, after touring the van Tuesday. ``It amazes me with what they can do with technology now.''

Reach Jon Glass at 222-5119 or at jglass@pilotonline.com