Additional cameras to ease Bell Road traffic

by Tony Lombardo - Sept. 5, 2008 08:04 AM
The Arizona Republic

More traffic cameras are heading to Bell Road with a mission to ease traffic congestion.

The new cameras are part of the second phase of the Intelligent Transportation System, or ITS, a traffic management network created through a partnership of Surprise, Peoria and Maricopa County. The project provides synchronized traffic signals, cameras and overhead message boards, all working together to help alert drivers to congestion as well as help alleviate it.

The system is already operating along Bell Road from Loop 101 in Peoria west to Grand Avenue in Surprise. The second phase, expected to start construction in January, would extend the network from Litchfield Road to Loop 303.

The project will include:

• Eight cameras at major intersections.
• Four message boards, with two facing westbound drivers and two facing eastbound. Tentative locations for these boards are east of Sun Village Parkway and west of Parkview Place.
• Four count stations to collect traffic-volume data and possibly speed information.

Design of this second phase is still under way, the city reports, but is about 95 percent complete. The cost is estimated at $1.5 million, with combined funding from Maricopa County, Surprise and the federal government.

While it is a Maricopa County Department of Transportation project, Surprise is also building an extension of the transportation system. The city has begun a connection from Grand Avenue west to Litchfield Road, and then south to the Public Safety Facility on Statler Boulevard.

It is necessary to connect to the Public Safety Facility because that is the future home of the Traffic Management Center, a hub that will allow engineers to watch streaming video of Bell Road and help control traffic. Constructing the ITS network to the Public Safety Facility is going to cost about $300,000, said Brian Moberly, the ITS associate engineer. It is possible the city could recoup half of that from federal funds, he said.

The ITS should be connected to the Public Safety Facility in October, and testing should follow in December, Moberly said. The city now operates its traffic management center at a small workstation at City Hall.

In related news, the Surprise City Council will vote Thursday on adding three ITS cameras east of Grand Avenue.

"They're going to help fill in some gaps right now," Moberly said. "We have a few spots where you can't get the incident coverage you need."

The Bell Road cameras would be placed at Coyote Lakes, Dysart Road and 134th Avenue.

The cost would be $40,000, with $28,000 from federal funds and $12,000 from the city.