MDOT TRAFFIC CAMS IN GENESEE COUNTY UPGRADE

Traffic-related 911 calls also come into the center. The Michigan State Police also staffs the facility, watching for accidents on the wall of video monitors. The signs, cameras and traffic sensors are monitored and controlled at an MDOT facility on Detroit's Howard Street. There are currently 180 cameras and 65 message boards for the 865 miles of roads that MDOT manages in metro Detroit. MDOT is upgrading its ability to use its equipment by switching to ethernet connections, which will speed up and modernize its communications systems. “We're transferring to a better technology,” said Michelle Mueller, the MDOT transportation engineer for the project. The signs will carry messages about traffic conditions, construction, weather warnings and accidents.

MDOT TRAFFIC CAMS IN GENESEE COUNTY UPGRADE

They use LED technology to display messages, an upgrade over the boards currently hung from overpasses or on posts in the region, which are 15 years old. The new signs average about two tons each and are 29 feet wide and 8 feet tall. Crane crews were installing signs on I-94 over the past few weeks. Infrastructure work for the message signs began in early 2007, and the entire project is scheduled to finish by the end of this year.

The signs are going up along I-94 between Detroit and Port Huron, I-96 between Detroit and Novi and on I-69 between Port Huron and Flint. The 13 new black, billboard-like units, called dynamic message signs, are from Brookings, S.D.-based Daktronics Inc., an electronic sign manufacturer that also provided the temporary display screens inside Ford Field for the recent NCAA basketball tournament. “You can't build your way out congestion,” said Rob Morosi, MDOT's communications representative for metro Detroit. They're also part of a national trend toward what's called intelligent transportation systems, which rely on communication and other technologies to manage traffic and highway safety instead of, or in conjunction with, new construction. The permanent boards, along with 32 new traffic cameras, are part of an $11.5 million project to boost the Michigan Department of Transportation's congestion-busting efforts. Thirteen massive new electronic message boards sprouting alongside the major highways in metro Detroit are more than springtime companions to the orange barrel blossoms.

Mdot traffic cams in genesee county