Traffic-management system offers motorists a safer, easier ride
By Jessi Torres

IF THERE’S SOMETHING MONTGOMERY COUNTY RESIDENT JOE MERRILL knows about how county government and its services impact his life, it is related to traffic in The Woodlands, where population growth has outpaced infrastructure growth. Montgomery County has become one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, and every resident that got behind the wheel of a car suffered for it. For years, Merrill has driven 15,000 miles last a year within The Woodlands; traffic, as he and all his neighbors can attest to, was bad.

But it has gotten better recently, and Merrill recognizes the county for working to find a way to ease congestion and make its streets safer for residents, all while staying within the county’s budget.

To find a solution to the problem, the county first studied what other fast-growing areas have done to ease their traffic congestion. County officials turned their attention to Houston’s TranStar system, which operates on a much larger scale but offers the functionality the county needed: remote traffic control from a traffic-management center, a motorist-assistance program, video vehicle detection and a Web site where motorists can check traffic online.

Montgomery County took TranStar’s functionality and adjusted it to fit the county’s size more closely, creating the Montgomery County Northstar Traffic Management System because it was the best choice to fit the county’s overall traffic-management needs, said Commissioner Ed Chance.

“We see 600,000 cars in a 24-hour period in five major arteries,” Chance said.

The Northstar system includes a traffic management center, 250 traffic cameras, real-time traffic video feeds, more than 150 miles of fiber-optic cable, battery backup for traffic signals, remote sensors on fire trucks and traffic alerts for motorists.

Employees monitor roadways using the live feeds from traffic cameras at the county’s traffic-management center. The center is outfitted with large and small screens for ongoing traffic monitoring,as well as desktop monitors for staff. Employees can conduct routine maintenance activities directly from the center.

“If the repair is software or computer driven, it can be handled remotely,” Chance said. “The only thing that has to be done in the field is anything that’s mechanical and physically breaks. About 90 percent of repairs are software related.”

Merrill, the founder of Community Activists of The Woodlands, which he created with the goal of ensuring that local and county officials spend residents’ money properly, recently visited the county’s traffic management center, meeting with Fred Koehler, the supervisor of the Precinct 3 Traffic Management Division.

Merrill said he was ultimately impressed by the center’s technology and the staff’s dedication. Koehler takes the long way to work and back, hitting 65 intersections each way to ensure that the system is functioning properly, Merrill said.

“The system has improved traffic flow and has possibly saved lives,” he added.

Northstar’s network of fiber- optic cables connecting the operations center to the county’s traffic signals also allows for remote monitoring and control of traffic signals based on each intersection’s specific needs. For instance, if operators identify a problem at a high-traffic intersection, they can adjust the timing of the traffic signals to allow more vehicles through and ease congestion in that area.

The Northstar system has the ability to reprogram traffic signals connected to the network, make adjustments to timing or detection devices, monitor traffic flow, retrieve traffic-volume data for timing studies and monitor utility power to intersections, all remotely.

Cameras are located at every intersection in the county and are strictly for monitoring traffic flow and identifying incidents that may affect traffic flow. They don’t record any activity.

When Merrill toured the center, he appreciated the versatility the cameras offered, specifically the cameras’ ability to zoom and rotate.

“I was very impressed with the clarity and the ability for the camera to see the exact spot required,” Merrill said. “The cameras are incredibly beneficial at intersections during morning and evening rush hours. Signal timing can be manipulated from miles away.”

The county provides a Web site, www.mctraffic.org, where commuters can view live feeds from the traffic cameras, helping them to better plan their daily commute. The site also includes updated information regarding construction zones.

“The ability to monitor traffic flow is a tremendous advantage to them, considering the time element,” Chance said. “If they’re leaving to go to work early in the morning and they see a problem, they can pick an alternate route. If we had a mass evacuation, motorists could choose the most suitable route for them.”

The county also has begun installing uninterruptible power supplies to all county-operated traffic signals. The power supplies allow for up to six hours of continuous operation during a power outage. The county has finished installation on about 70 percent of its traffic signals.

“During any traffic downtime or a power outage, all the signals could go out,” Chance said. “It’s not reasonable cost-wise or personnel wise to have us go out and direct traffic. With battery backup, all you’ll see is a slight blink in the lights before the backup kicks in. Of course, safety is our ultimate goal.”

Many of the county’s intersections also include emergency vehicle pre-emption devices that provide an automatic green light to approaching fire trucks.

Northstar utilizes video vehicle detection at intersections, which Chance said is “far superior” to the older system of inductive loops. Where the old system uses a trigger buried under the asphalt to cue traffic lights, the new system relies on a video-recognition trigger to cue the lights.

“The cameras are mounted on top of each traffic signal and show the length of approximately six cars,” Chance said. “When a car pulls into the video viewing section, it tells the camera that the signal needs to turn. The accuracy and dependability is almost foolproof unless someone gets up there and tears the camera down. The older systems require constant monitoring and are very high-maintenance.”

Chance is replacing standard traffic-signal light bulbs with LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs. Traffic lights utilizing LED bulbs are brighter, longer lasting and more energy efficient than standard incandescent halogen bulbs.

Chance estimated that during an average year, the county would save in the neighborhood of $160,000 by switching to the longer-lasting bulbs, which have 20 times the lifespan. He said the labor and maintenance for changing them almost recoups the cost in a period of about four years.

Along with all the technological advances of the Northstar system, Montgomery County also operates four Motorist Assistance Patrol units, known as MAPs.

“If a vehicle breaks down on the side of the road in heavy traffic, we see that on the monitor and send help,” Chance said. “Flat tire, out of gas, need a tow truck … we make sure that car gets moved out of the traffic lanes in the minimum amount of time required.”

From a motorist’s perspective, Merrill said the MAP units are essential.

“If you are having car trouble on (Interstate)-45, the traffic managers may notice that and send support,” Merrill said. The MAP units or sheriff’s office often call the traffic-management center, ask if cars are stranded at certain locations, and get vital information about accidents. Merrill said the quick response saves “valuable travel time and gets the proper response team to the location.”

The Northstar system cost approximately $1.4 million. It was funded through the county’s budget and bonds.

Alan Clark, the director of Transportation Planning for the Houston- Galveston Area Council, which includes Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller counties, said the $1.4 million price tag is “comparatively low” to what other areas have spent on traffic-monitoring systems, since the county took such great care in developing it.

Clark said the system will be helping not only the area’s residents, but the entire region, since it connects to other traffic-monitoring systems, including Houston’s TranStar.

Montgomery County’s Northstar system is unique, he added, because it was developed largely at the initiative of the local government as opposed to the state department of transportation. TransStar was developed and is managed jointly by the Texas Department of Transportation, the city of Houston, Harris County, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.

“They really had a champion for this idea in Commissioner Ed Chance,” Clark said. “Sometimes it takes someone with enough passion and vision.”

Clark predicted that Texas will see all of its major cities connected through traffic-monitoring systems in upcoming years.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see many Texas counties involved in these kinds of things, either individually with their municipalities, or in partnership with TxDOT,” Clark said. “From the perspective of our role as a metropolitan planning organization, the leadership of local governments is very important in transportation, period, especially in the areas of traffic management.”

The immediate ability for authorities throughout the state to communicate with each other regarding road conditions in the case of an emergency would alleviate many problems, he said.

“Commissioner Chance and others were very aware of the inability to get accurate information for what was happening in a timely fashion during the evacuation of Katrina,” Clark said.