In recent years, Tampa, Florida has taken several important steps to reduce traffic and congestion. Since a smooth flowing intersection relies on accurate detection, one very important step has been to improve and modernize its vehicle detection.
“Historically we used inductive loops cut in the roadway and that proved to be expensive to maintain and was prone to failures,” says Brian Gentry, the City of Tampa’s traffic management center operations manager, adding that while loops were accurate, they often failed due to Tampa’s weather. “It could be a number of things that would cause an inductive loop to fail. Any type of construction or road work, along with it being exposed to the elements — obviously in Florida we get a lot of rain and heat in the pavement as well.”
Indeed, Tampa is hot, humid and rainy. Tampa’s coldest month is January when the average low is 50°F; in August, which is the hottest month, daily high temperatures can average around 90°F. On average, there are 246 sunny days per year and approximately 100 rainy days that provide about 47 inches of rain annually, compared to the US national average of 37 inches.
In addition to the practical problems inductive loops face, there are also difficulties associated with the danger of installation — workers spend long periods of time in the roadway installing loops — that hit too close to home in Tampa. A few years ago, the need to keep workers out of the road as much as possible was underscored when an employee was killed installing a pneumatic tube for vehicle counts at a particular location.
“That brought it to everyone’s attention,” Gentry says. “The safety of employees is considered a priority in everyday operations in Tampa.”
Traffic engineers tested SmartSensor Matrix along with video detection as viable alternatives to loops at the stop bar, but video proved to be unreliable in Florida’s sunny and rainy weather conditions.
“We tested video along with Matrix and now Matrix is our standard,” Gentry says. “When looking at the quality and accuracy of the detection, it performed better than other technologies we looked at.”
“When looking at the quality and accuracy of the detection, [Matrix] performed better than other technologies we looked at.” —BRIAN GENTRY, MANAGER FOR THE CITY OF TAMPA TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CENTER OPERATIONS
The decision to name Matrix as the stop bar vehicle detection standard came after three years of intensive testing. Tampa officials found that SmartSensor Matrix does not require disruptive and expensive maintenance, frequent adjustments, cleanings or replacements. The sensor also provides an alternative to loops that is safer for road workers because most Matrix sensors can be installed and configured in less than an hour when cable is already pulled; configuration can be completed in as little as 15 minutes, thanks to easy-to-use software that offers both auto-configuration and traffic visualization capabilities.
“It’s not intrusive to the roadway and is safer for personnel as it is installed off to the side of the road,” says Gentry.
Since its release in 2009, SmartSensor Matrix has proven itself to be accurate and long lasting. Matrix gives traffic engineers the data they need to keep their intersections safe and efficient day after day, even in difficult conditions. The sensor performs accurately from a variety of mounting locations, so any signalized intersection can benefit from SmartSensor Matrix’s corner radar — even intersections that use span wires.
Matrix is the first multi-lane traffic detector specifically designed for true presence detection of both moving and stopped vehicles at the stop bar. The sensor’s unique corner radar array utilizes 16 separate beams in close proximity, which cover a large arc that reaches out 140 feet at a 90-degree angle. As a result, Matrix is ideal for stop bar detection, bicycle detection, count zones for analytics and permitted/protected left turns. The sensor is also used to solve numerous traffic detection problems in several applications, from clearance protection and ramp metering to queue detection and parking lot management.
“The SmartSensor Matrix is now our standard. We actually put the note in our plans to provide Wavetronix for vehicle detection”, says Gentry. This means that moving forward, Tampa will replace failing inductive loops with Matrix.
“We appreciate that the city of Tampa has named SmartSensor Matrix as their preferred detection for new and redesigned intersections,” says Jimmy Fountaine, Wavetronix regional sales manager. “We are always happy when an area can run a pilot project with Wavetronix products and get the results they are looking for, such as in Tampa.”
“The SmartSensor Matrix is now our standard. We actually put the note in our plans to provide Wavetronix for vehicle detection”—BRIAN GENTRY
