Published on Friday, March 24, 2006
in the Bonita Daily News

FDOT center on I-75 will keep traffic moving

If driving on Interstate 75 is a headache now, it is sure to be a migraine when construction to widen the highway to six lanes starts in about a year.

The only relief for drivers might be found in a center, which will manage traffic and congestion on the interstate and should be on-line about a year into the three-year widening project.

The Florida Department of Transportation’s Regional Transportation Management Center, which is not related to another transportation center proposed by Florida Gulf Coast University, will be located at the Daniels Road rest area off I-75.

The center will use strategically placed cameras, projection signs and other technology to help keep vehicles moving on the interstate and its intersections when accidents and other incidents threaten to bring traffic to a grinding halt, said Debbie Tower, FDOT spokeswoman.

Perhaps the center’s biggest value for drivers is that it will give them more information about the conditions ahead, allowing them to take alternative routes or informing them a quick stop may be on the horizon, Tower said. That extra heads-up could be enough to prevent secondary accidents from happening, she said.

“Information is everything,” she said. “It gives drivers a look ahead and the ability to anticipate.”

Construction on the $34.5 million center and supporting technology should begin at the end of this year. Contractors will start by placing fiber optics, cameras and projection signs in the right of way on the side of the interstate.

Cameras will be placed about one or two miles apart along the interstate and signs will be placed before virtually every intersection.

The technology will run the extent of the I-75 corridor within Collier and Lee counties, which is about 100 miles from the Broward/Collier county line in eastern South Florida up to the Lee/Charlotte county line.

Fiber optics will link the technology to the center, which will be furnished with television screens that will display real-time traffic information from the interstate.

FDOT will share the center with the Florida Highway Patrol, which will dispatch troopers from the location.

Having the FHP at the center will aid enormously in accident response, Tower said. Cameras will show exactly where accidents are and, in some cases, show troopers what kind of tow trucks are needed to clear vehicles.

“We can respond more quickly and respond with the resources to clear the crash,” Tower said.

Eventually FDOT plans to put signs alerting drivers of interstate traffic on roads that feed onto the interstate, such as Bonita Beach and Corkscrew roads.

The center is expected to be up and running by early 2008, about one year into the construction of I-75.

The effects should be felt immediately, Tower said.

A similar center in the Orlando area, with technology that spreads out over the Interstate 4 corridor and a large portion of Interstate 95, has proven very effective, said Chris Cairns, assistant district traffic operations engineer for FDOT’s District 5 in the Orlando area.

That center was one of the first of its kind in Florida and has been in place since the early 1990s.

“We’ve done studies that have shown its effectiveness,” Cairns said. “For the most part, we have positive feedback from drivers.”

Though the technology can be an amazing resource, it’s still up to drivers to pay attention and drive safely, Tower said.

“We will really have advanced information about specific conditions on I-75, but it is in the hands of drivers,” she said. “Advanced information is everything if drivers are on their toes.”