GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – While it might take the public some time to notice a difference, Public Works Director Steve Grenier tells WLUK data from new smart traffic signals shows an improvement in traffic flow.
“What they are going to see is hey I used to make it through three lights and then I’d get stopped by the fourth one and now it seems like I can go the entire length of that street, or it used to take me seven minutes to get from this point to that and it’s down to six minutes” Green Bay started using smart signals in 2008.
The technology started with wiring in the pavement, but Grenier says it has advanced to mounted camera systems.
“We can tell the camera to look at the first car that pulls up, or if that’s causing too many calls in traffic, the signal is turning too much, we’re adversely impacting a major street, you can take and move that box to the second car back or a third car back” The city chooses which intersections receive the new smart signals on a number of factors including the age of the current signal technology and volume of traffic.
“Number one primarily would be corridors,” said Grenier.
The intersection at Main and Mason on the east side will be one of the next intersections to change over.
Drivers like Green Bay’s Shayna Robinson welcome the move.
“Maybe somebody isn’t going to have to speed to get to work or get to something they’re late for”
Douglans Winkler is a fan too.
“People’s schedules have gotten tighter, so everyone is in a rush all the time, so it’s probably a good thing”
The city budgets about $200,000 each year to change over one or two corridors or major intersections.
