HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Keeping you safe on the roads is a top priority for Hillsborough County transportation leaders, and they now have a new way to keep roads clear and a new facility.
The Traffic Management Center opened after Hurricane Irma threatened the Tampa Bay area in 2017. That’s when leaders saw the need to move inland from downtown Tampa and out of a flood zone.
“We were right around the street in an older building for traffic operations, now we’re here in the same building which makes it great for us to collaborate,” Traffic Operations Manager Kyla Fischer said.
Fischer works closely with the traffic management department. We spoke to Senior Professional Traffic Management Engineer Brian Gentry. He says working in the new facility allows them to do their jobs better.
The center also has the capacity to leverage existing technology and the scale to adapt as new tech enters the space.
“Physical space, technology-wise, it’s definitely night and day, we can manage traffic much better now,” he said.
It’s a balance of mobility and safety. Equipped with two video walls with 18 screens each including 55-inch monitors to monitor 99 CCTV cameras across Hillsborough County’s arterial roads to constantly improve traffic flow.
It allows workers to see what’s happening in real-time and use technology to shift light cycles and adjust traffic flow. Priorities include crashes, signals that are out and downed signs.
With a maintenance team also inside the building if and when a sign goes down, one is immediately ready to replace it. With more than 5 million traffic signs in Hillsborough County alone, having stock of what’s needed is a big job.
Fischer says once a report comes in, crews can usually get the job done in a couple of hours. “We respond within two hours and typically we will have it done within that time frame,” she said.
“The new facility was built as part of our strategy of building a smarter traffic network. It enables us to monitor traffic and adjust traffic signal timing to changing conditions. Signals can be adjusted in moments to move traffic around any snag like utility construction, a vehicle crash, emergency vehicles responding to a call or even a natural phenomenon like a downed tree,” Chris Wilkerson, Senior Media Relations Strategist said.
The new facility is also across the street from emergency management which makes it a lot easier when responding to storms.