Toronto to Test Smart Traffic Signals to Ease Congestion
David Wagman | November 28, 2017The City of Toronto is launching two smart traffic signal pilot projects to test smart traffic system technology.
Unlike standard traffic signals that are fixed to a set timing cycle for morning and afternoon rush hours and off-peak times, the new signals will be able to adjust traffic signals independently to respond to real-time traffic patterns at any time of the day. They can also communicate and synchronize with other smart signals in the vicinity to ease congestion.
In the 1960s, the City of Toronto was among the first cities in North America to deploy a computerized traffic signal control system. The city of 2.8 million currently uses a mix of earlier-generation traffic systems, some of which are over 20 years old, to control about 2,400 traffic signals.
The equipment is aging, replacement parts are hard to find, and the old communications infrastructure makes it difficult to communicate with the signals in the field.
Toronto, Canada’s largest city, will test two technologies over the next year to determine which works best. At 10 locations on Yonge Street between Yonge Boulevard and Castlefield Avenue, the city will pilot a technology called InSync, which is used in the United States. This technology makes decisions based on video-analysis camera detection that measures queue lengths on the approach to the intersection and relays that data to the signal.
At 12 locations on Sheppard Avenue East between Neilson Road and Meadowvale Road, the city will pilot a technology called SCATS, which is used in Australia, Asia and the United States. This technology makes decisions using radar detection to measure traffic flow up and downstream of the intersection.
Both technologies will be tested and compared, and their performance and effectiveness will be measured by comparing before- and after-traffic volumes and travel times using count stations and Bluetooth detectors. Transportation staff will also use commercial GPS data provided by HERE, a traffic data sharing company that provides traffic flow and travel time information.
