A traffic signal on Route 22 in Monroeville that uses artificial intelligence was criticized during a citizens speak-out meeting with council, spurring explanations from municipal officials and the state Department of Transportation.
“I had to wait three lights to make a left-hand turn into Lowes,” resident Robert Serafini said.
Mr. Serafini said that in the past, a number of traffic lights in the municipality allowed both eastbound and westbound traffic on Route 22 to make left turns first before traffic going straight ahead could proceed. That is no longer the case.
Paul Hugus, of the municipality’s department of code compliance and community safety, said PennDOT has installed a new “smart” traffic signal system on routes 22 and 48. Mr. Hugus said the system collects traffic information and makes decisions on its own.
“It’s still learning,” he said during the meeting last month.
Todd Kravits, PennDOT District 11 traffic engineer, said in an interview the system “sees” how many vehicles are in each lane using either video or radar detection. Traffic detectors also communicate with each other, he said. The system allows the lane with the most traffic to go first.
Mr. Kravits said the system has been very successful where it was installed earlier on Route 22 in Murrysville.
“We reduced traffic delays at traffic signals by over 50 percent in Murrysville,” he said.
Monroeville municipal engineer Jamie Storey explained in an email how the new system works.
He said the “brains” of the new traffic adaptive system is a product called InSync Fusion, which is supplied by a company called Rhythm Engineering.
Mr. Storey said the InSync system began collecting data in June, and started controlling traffic signals on July 31.
Mr. Storey said the new system of traffic signal controls runs from Route 22 at its intersection with Route 48, west along Route 22 up to Rodi Road.
He said a previous installation of the same traffic signal control system ran from Route 22 at Cochran East to the route’s intersection with Manor Road in Murrysville.
“So essentially at this point, the Route 22 corridor from the Penn Hills exit of the Parkway to Salem Township is controlled by the same system,” he said.
He said the system optimizes traffic flow by providing coordination to move traffic on Route 22 “such that you should travel a long distance without being stopped by a red light.”
Mr. Storey said the InSync system has the ability to choose how it services the side streets “with much more latitude than previously, meaning the side streets will be allotted green lights in a more efficient manner. “
“It’s “better” because it adjusts its operation and green light durations in real-time based on the actual traffic it is seeing,” he said. “The previous method did not have the ability to do this.”
Mr. Storey pointed out the system had completed its “learning” phase, but is always collecting and analyzing traffic data in real-time.
In a subsequent email, Mr. Storey said Rhythm Engineering and PennDOT have been monitoring operation of the system since it went online, and complaints and comments have been forwarded to PennDOT.
To learn more about the system: https://rhythmtraffic.com/insync-2/how-it-works/
Anne Cloonan, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com
First Published: September 7, 2018, 4:48 a.m.
