The Aldis GridSmart Blog

By: Amy Huddleston
Times-New Magic Valley

Jerome, ID - The city of Jerome is taking pride in its new cutting-edge traffic video system, installed Tuesday on South Lincoln Street.

The first of its kind in Idaho, the two-camera system will replace the four video cameras currently attached to the stoplight near the Jerome Walmart. City crews worked throughout the day to install the cameras with Balanced Rock Electric and Intermountain Traffic LLC.

The new video system has a high-resolution digital camera that can be programmed to monitor traffic counts, vehicle turn speeds and pedestrian and bicycle crossings. Each camera includes a fish-eye lens that sees in all four directions and views two different approaches.

Walt Appell, Jerome public works director, said the existing video system was failing and needed to be replaced.

“People who use this light will start to see the results of these cameras pretty quick,” Appell said. “The video monitors how many vehicles are stopped at the light, so the stops will be quicker.”

Currently the light is set on a steady 30-second timer, regardless of traffic flow.

Located in the city’s industrial park, large trucks and trailers pass through the intersection every day on their way to Jerome’s factories and businesses. Appell said knowing the number of vehicles that drive through the stoplight each day can help the city plan future road maintenance.

Intermountain Traffic LLC representative Katie Robinson said the company has installed only 100 video systems of this caliber nationwide. “We like to call it the next generation in video detection,” she said.

The city has been working on getting the video system ordered and installed for the last month and half. Replacing the old system would have cost at least $30,000, but the new system offered better technology at a better price.

“Including labor and everything it is costing us $24,000,” Appell said. “Our goal is to get these installed on other intersections in the future, especially on Nez Pierce and South Lincoln.”

By: Undefined
WKTV

Utica, NY – If you look closely at the intersection of Genesee Street and the Parkway in Utica, you’ll see a new device now sitting above one of the traffic lights. It looks like a small white Liberty Bell. It’s actually a panoramic camera. It’s one of many panoramic cameras the city will be installing from downtown to New Hartford to make travel easier and safer.

These cameras will keep the street lights green for travel north and south on Genesee street, as long as there are no vehicles waiting on the cross street at the intersection. Utica Mayor David Roefaro says the new system will make your travel much speedier and a lot less frustrating.

The new cameras are just one part of the city’s new traffic light system for Genesee Street. The second part is a preemption system designed to allow firetrucks to preempt, or change the lights to green as they approach the intersections.

The firetrucks will have a GPS system that will be turned on whenever its siren lights are on, and that system will change the traffic lights automatically.

Utica Mayor David Roefaro says he has successfully secured 500 thousand dollars in Federal Department of Transportation funding to help pay for the project.

The installation of the remaining cameras and preemptive system won’t take place until the state budget is passed. As soon as that is passed, the federal funding for the project will be released.

By: Undefined
ITS America Daily News

Houston, TX – Traffic engineers can now provide smart and affordable video detection at large traffic intersections like those above or below freeway interchanges with a new dual-camera system from Aldis Corp.

The GridSmart 720 system networks two 360 degree view cameras together to provide detection on an entire large intersection or interchange, a task that usually requires several directional-view cameras.

The dual-camera system is the result of requests from traffic engineers across the nation looking for a better, less complicated way to manage traffic at larger, more complex intersections says Bill Malkes, Aldis President.

“This system will save cities money and eliminate the hassle associated with having multiple cameras at each intersection. The GridSmart system’s ability to do more with fewer cameras reduces procurement, installation and maintenance costs.”

GridSmart traffic solutions include the Spectra 360, designed for intersection traffic management utilizing video tracking and the Optima 360, which adds support for vehicle counting data and pedestrian handling. Ultra 360, which will be available this year, will provide a complete intersection management solution including such features as vehicle pre-emption and dilemma zone functionality.

By: Erica Estep
Knoxville News Sentinel

Sevierville, TN - More cameras are going up at intersections in Sevierville, but they aren’t meant to monitor speeding or running red lights.

Instead, the traffic cameras are aimed at putting the brakes on a constant traffic headache. Traffic congestion is so thick on Highway 66 during peak times, police are required to direct vehicles through busy intersections.

“This is a man power issue for me,” says police Chief Don Myers. “We’ve expanded a good amount of overtime monies this past season just keeping up on Saturdays and Sundays on traffic issues. So this is really going to help me out a lot.” 

City officials and Aldis the company behind GridSmart, hope the high tech cameras will keep people moving.

Aldis’ Vice President of Operations, Matt Greenoe, explains how the cameras will be a big help during the massive construction project on Highway 66.

“With the constant construction over the next year or two, what we’re able to do is remotely manage traffic using these cameras. Our camera is a stop bar detection, which means when a vehicle pulls up to the stop bar at the intersection, we send a signal to the controller to let the controller know a vehicle is present and to cycle through the red, yellow, green lights,” Greenoe says. 

The cameras are so small and so high in the air, most people won’t even know they’re there. Police say they’re meant for strictly easing congestion, not issuing tickets.

“They think it’s going to be a traffic camera to write tickets and that is not the function of these cameras,” Chief Myers says. “They’re not set up to do that and we do not intend to have that use for them at all.” 

TDOT is footing the bill, at a cost of about $10,000 per intersection. The traffic cameras will also provide real time traffic counts.

Howard Kingsbury owns The Diner on Highway 66. The construction has caused an eyesore in front of his restaurant, but he knows the finished product will ease traffic congestion and he hopes the new cameras will, too.

“We hope it’s going to help and the traffic will flow a little bit better,” Kingsbury says. “They say that it will. We’ve had some police men out on the corners changing lights and controlling lights and I know that’s helped, so we have to assume that some automation can help.”

The two cameras already in place are at the intersections of Highway 66 and Main Street and Highway 66 and Highway 448.

Plus, there are four more cameras scheduled to go up at intersections on Highway 66 over the next several months.

By: Jeff Farrell
The Mountain Press

Sevierville, TN — Those new cameras appearing along Highway 66 are there to help traffic — not issue tickets.

City officials want to be clear on that much: the new technology, developed by Aldis Corp. of Oak Ridge, is designed to help adjust to changing traffic patterns and respond to backups without always requiring a police officer to come out and man the controls.

What it doesn’t do, they said, is get pictures of cars that run the lights. It isn’t even designed to capture license plates.

“It is not a red-light camera,” said Bob Stahlke, public information officer for the city. “This is a traffic control camera that is basically in place of the loops that would be under the lanes at the intersection.”

The cameras provide a 360-degree view of the intersection. Using software designed by Aldis, city officials can designate areas in each lane where the camera should detect cars — and base the light cycle on that information.

That means that they can keep traffic flowing on Highway 66 longer when there aren’t cars trying to turn off of secondary roads. It also means they can adjust the patterns quickly whenever the flow of traffic changes. That’s a big plus during a massive construction project like the expansion of Highway 66.

Previously, the city used loops under the road for that purpose. The loops would detect cars waiting to turn or travel through the intersection, and send a signal to the lights.

But Stahlke noted they use magnets to detect the cars, so they don’t always “notice” motorcycles or some newer cars that use considerably less metal than older models.

“Some people think the loops work on a vehicle’s weight, but what the loops do is pick up on the magnetic field of the vehicle,” he said.

During construction, the loops are all but useless. They can’t be adjusted when the flow of traffic changes while work is going on. The new cameras can be adjusted without even going to the site.

“There’s going to be numerous instances where they will change lanes and maybe use a shoulder for a lane or a center turn lane for a third lane and with the camera we can reconfigure the lanes and do it remotely,” Stahlke said. “We can do it immediately.”

The work is being paid for by the Tennessee Department of Transportation; money budgeted for replacement of the old loops is being used to purchase the cameras instead.

City officials hope that will result in better traffic flow during construction, which they acknowledge has become a problem. Police officers are often visible at the manual controls for the lights; they hope the new cameras will reduce the need to send them to the intersections.

“With the construction and lane changes and everything it may still be necessary at peak times,” Stahlke said.

When cars approach the stop bar — the white line at intersections that designates where automobiles should stop — the cameras send a signal to the controllers along the road, which then cycle through the lights.

The cameras will also provide the city, and Aldis, with real-time data on the volume of traffic flow along the road.

“We’re able to adjust the signal timing based on real-time data,” said Matt Greenoe, vice president of Aldis.

The lights have been installed at the intersection of Highway 66 and Main Street and Highway 66 and North Parkway. They will eventually be added at other intersections in the construction area.