A stoplight at the intersection of 10th Street East and 2nd Avenue East in Owen Sound in 2019. (Bayshore Broadcasting file photo)
New traffic monitoring technology and stoplight programming changes have lowered the commute time along 10th Street in downtown Owen Sound.
The city’s Director of Public Works and Engineering Dennis Kefalas says new Miovision technology has been installed at major intersections along 10th Street that has informed new light timings.
He says Miovision is a camera technology that tracks traffic and the city has a service contract with the Kitchener-based company to provide timings to be programmed at stoplight controllers based on the data captured.
Kefalas says this has reduced cross town travel time along 10th Street from just over three and a half minutes to about one and a half minutes.
“Of course, there are the occasional anomalies,” Kefalas explains. “But for most part the travel times have drastically improved.”
Traffic along 10th Street increased substantially after the bridge re-opened Dec. 11. Kefalas says around 24,000 vehicles per day were crossing the bridge from Dec. 11 until Christmas, before falling to about 17,000 during the lockdown period.
Owen Sound allocated $150,000 annually in its 2019-21 budgets to improve the traffic control systems along the 10th Street corridor, Kefalas notes. The funds are being used for studies, equipment purchases and installation.
The camera technology also plays a role in protected left hand turns at some major downtown intersections like 10th Street East and 2nd Avenue East, as well as 10th Street East and 3rd Avenue East.
Kefalas says a turn sequence is activated by vehicles in a zone that is identified by Miovision.
The city is also looking to expand the traffic camera technology to improve flows on other busy routes, such as 16th Street East. Kefalas says there’s been some preliminary talks with Grey County to take over some of its intersections in the city to install the stoplight camera monitors.