Smart intersections deliver tangible, real-life benefits that improve the quality of life for city residents and create opportunities for more efficient infrastructure. Discover how they are transforming urban mobility by reducing congestion, enhancing safety, boosting efficiency, and saving costs for cities worldwide.
Smart intersections aren’t the future of city infrastructure; they’re the present. The technology behind smart intersections for cities unleashes many benefits, including optimized flow for vehicles, gridlock reduction, and increased pedestrian safety.
This is accomplished by the use of sensors, cameras, AI analytics, and cloud-based devices, working to respond to shifting traffic flow conditions in real-time. Ultimately, these systems are leading to improvements in urban mobility, traffic management, and sustainability.
Reduced Traffic Congestion
One of the more prominent benefits of smart intersections is their ability to reduce traffic congestion. Cities that incorporate traffic management systems have greatly reduced their traffic loads. Here’s how:
- Smart intersections gather live data on vehicle flow and adjust signal timing automatically to facilitate free-flowing traffic.
- Adaptive traffic signals can prioritize traffic on heavily used corridors, quickly clear side streets, and create open space for emergency response vehicles.
- The flow and signal control allow consistent vehicle speeds and movement of goods and people.
Learn how smart traffic works.
Lower Vehicle Emission
Smart intersections for cities reduce vehicle emissions. How? They reduce the time drivers spend idling in traffic jams, waiting for movement or signal changes.
One study found that a fleet of 25 trucks that reduces its idling time by just two hours per day can reduce emissions by 106 metric tons of CO2. That amounts to 11,922 gallons of gasoline consumed.
- By reducing idle times and stop-and-go conditions, smart intersections reduce excessive fuel consumption.
- Data-driven traffic signals help maintain a steady flow, alleviating traffic jams and carbon emissions.
- Smart signalling can therefore support clean air goals and sustainability initiatives cities may spearhead, and is part of intelligent traffic systems.
Enhanced Road Safety
Smart intersections for cities can greatly increase road safety for both motorists and pedestrians. These intelligent intersections do so by using technology that helps reduce traffic accidents. These systems achieve such results by:
- Smart intersections can spot and counteract risky situations in real time, such as drivers running red lights, alerting distracted drivers, or extending pedestrian cross times if necessary.
- Automated alerts and data sharing can decrease response times for emergency responders and alert maintenance teams of power outages or hazards ahead of time.
- Advanced data analytics collected from smart systems allow urban planners to identify collision hot spots and devise interventions for the most at-risk road users, such as cyclists and pedestrians, allowing traffic efficiency.
Greater Efficiency for All Modes
When smart intersections meet urban planning early on, they make city roadways more efficient. This translates to fewer delays for motorists and pedestrians.
- Integrated detection for automobiles, transit vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians balances the commuter needs of all travelers.
- Dynamic signal phasing gives transit priority during peak times/rush hours, which can reduce occurrences like “bus bunching,” making public transit more reliable.
- Greater efficiency makes urban centers more accessible and connected.
Long-Term Cost Savings
Urban mobility solutions can reduce infrastructure costs, allowing municipal governments to better allocate budgets. They can also help urban planners avoid infrastructure upgrades.
Other cities can achieve this by:
- Reducing reliance on manual signal retiming, cutting maintenance costs, and lengthening infrastructure lifespan.
- Using data insights collected by smart systems to inform urban planners of smarter choices in terms of building infrastructure and allocating capital.
- Preventing accidents, leading to a reduction in congestion incident management via smart intersection systems, all of which reduce the financial toll of traffic delays and roadway incidents.
Let Miovision Help Your City Move Smarter
At Miovision, we create urban mobility solutions that can enable any city to become a smart city. Our products can help your community reach its utmost potential in terms of liveability by helping you reduce congestion, increase safety, and lower emissions.
For example, in San Rafael, we were able to alleviate frequent congestion on the 101 freeway, which slowed emergency responses. Up to 56 police and fire vehicles receive priority signaling at 53 intersections across the city, ensuring faster emergency response times.
Miovision products have helped Detroit improve traffic flow, road safety, and emergency response times. Over 600 intersections rely on our smart systems to improve traffic data accuracy and efficiency.
These outcomes are also possible in your community with Miovision solutions. Let’s make your ideal version of your city the real version, one intersection at a time!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Makes a Traffic Signal Smart?
A smart traffic signal responds to traffic conditions in real-time. It also uses analytical algorithms and cloud-based systems to adjust light cycles and communicate with other signals and systems. These features let these signals gather data continuously to optimize road mobility for travelers.
How do smart traffic signals work?
Smart traffic signals gather real-time data using devices such as radar, video, or in-road sensors. They then process this data locally or in the cloud to optimize signal phasing. They can also communicate with connected vehicles (including public transit) to help maximize efficiency and safety at intersections.
Can smart intersections help emergency vehicles?
Yes. These systems feature emergency vehicle preemption, which refers to the ability to automatically change lights to allow ambulances, fire trucks, or police cruisers to pass through faster and uninterrupted.
How does data from smart intersections help with city planning?
Smart intersections collect valuable data constantly on factors such as traffic volumes, commute times, and accident hot spots. This helps city planners glean insights that can inform their decisions to invest and expand city infrastructure.
Are there privacy or security concerns with smart intersections?
Smart traffic systems keep vehicle and pedestrian data anonymous to protect individual privacy. They only keep track of commuter behavior around intersections, and are subject to strong governance and cybersecurity protocols to safeguard against data misuse or cyberhacks.
Takeaways
- Smart intersections reduce traffic congestion by using real-time data and adaptive signal timing to optimize flow for vehicles and pedestrians.
- By minimizing idle time and stop-and-go traffic, smart intersections help cities lower vehicle emissions and meet sustainability goals.
- Advanced sensors and analytics improve road safety by identifying risks, extending pedestrian crossing times, and helping prevent collisions.
- Smart intersections increase efficiency for all modes of travel (cars, buses, bikes, and pedestrians), making cities more connected and accessible.
- Over time, these systems save cities money by extending infrastructure lifespan, reducing maintenance costs, and preventing expensive traffic incidents.
Discover how Miovision can facilitate smart intersections that urban planning teams like yours can rely on for improved efficiency. Let’s move together!