A smoother commute for drivers in some areas of Windsor.
As part of efforts to reduce congestion, Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) have now been installed on four major roadways, Ouellette Ave from Tecumseh Road to Eugenie; Dougall Ave from Eugenie to Norfolk; Tecumseh Road from Dougall Ave. to Jefferson Blvd; and Walker Road from Tecumseh Rd to Ducharme.
The system allows light cycles to be adjusted based on real-time traffic conditions in particular during rush hour from 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Traffic is being monitored in a 'Situation Room' type setting at the municipal building on Mercer St. where an employee can watch the cameras and make adjustments to the lights to respond to construction, a crash, or other events.
The new system has led to shortened commute times and a better flow of traffic in those corridors, for example once you are on Ouellette at Tecumseh Rd., drivers don't hit a red light until Cabana Rd. during rush hour.
The city's Executive Director of Operations Stacey McGuire says "We've put a lot of data into that system and basically we're able to adjust all the signal timings along that whole corridor, dynamically as traffic moves which is greatly improving the system."
McGuire adds four other major corridors are now being examined, "Council directed administration to implement a few further corridor studies in particular on Wyandotte St, Howard Ave, Tecumseh Rd and Walker Rd. They'll do basically the same thing that we did on Dougall so they've provided a bit of funding and resources to go ahead and do that."
City council also approved further traffic studies on corridors including: Wyandotte Road East - from Ouellette Ave to Banwell; Howard Avenue - from Cabana Road East to Tecumseh Road East; Tecumseh Road - from Ouellette Avenue to Banwell Road; and Walker Road - from Wyandotte Street East to City Limits.
McGuire says that work is ongoing and will take years to complete.
She adds congestion is the result of vehicles exceeding the roadway's capacity, severe weather, construction, crashes and vehicle breakdowns, but Windsor is also experiencing population and employment growth at rates never seen before which is also straining roads.
A city wide Congestion Management Plan (CMP) is also in the works to expand the system and provide other short term solutions like construction management techniques to minimize disruption, targeting active and alternative transportation like walking or cycling, improving transit use, which would help residents avoid congested areas.
The cost of the traffic studies, expanding the ATMS in the four new areas, and the CMP is $1.5-million.