Smart cities have embraced the use of traffic preemption systems to provide public transit and emergency vehicles with priority at intersections. At the 10th annual Growing Sustainable Communities Conference in Dubuque, Iowa, Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) product manager Chad Mack will discuss how traffic and public safety departments can use analytics to assess, reveal and improve traffic signal preemption performance, helping to change the way communities move.
Smarter cities
“In recent years, priority control and traffic sensing technologies have helped make cities smarter by connecting vehicles to infrastructure,” Mack says. “As the technologies have advanced, software has been developed to harness the abundance of data generated by these systems to provide analytical reports on where improvements have been or could be made.”
Mack’s presentation will feature case studies that explore how cities use intelligent transportation tools to change the way their communities move. Discussion topics include the new roles of public safety and transportation, how data generated from priority control systems is turned into useful insights to move public vehicles quicker and more efficiently, and how analytics can help to address future challenges associated with growing cities.
“Cities are looking to connected infrastructure systems to solve mobility challenges,” Mack says. “Analytics tools can help to reveal and resolve previously unseen issues with traffic systems.”
Connecting vehicles with intersections
By connecting vehicles with intersections and allowing them to request priority, preemption systems help public transit agencies to adhere to schedules and assist emergency responders in reaching the scene of incidents quickly and safely. The Opticom™ Analytics platform – released by GTT in June – provides insights which enable communities to make informed decisions about changes or upgrades to the preemption system.
Hosted by the City of Dubuque, Iowa and Sustainable City Network, the Growing Sustainable Communities Conference is the largest and longest standing sustainability conference in the Midwest. This 10th annual event includes two days of education, inspiration and collaboration on topics of interest to anyone who cares about creating great towns and cities that stand the test of time. Mack’s presentation forms part of Workshop Session 1, ‘The Changing Pace of Mobility in America’, 10-11.30am on October 3.
The Growing Sustainable Communities Conference takes place at the Grand River Center in the Port of Dubuque, Iowa, October 3-4.
