Cleveland, Ohio is getting funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to upgrade the traffic signals to give right of way to emergency vehicles and to research state data to identify areas of higher crash risk while also reducing response times after an accident.
On Monday, Senator Sherrod Brown announced the grant from USDOT's Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART), part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), would fund the projects and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).
Cleveland will be getting $1.8 million for the traffic light project.
ODOT received $2 million in funding to research two potential uses of a state data system that ingests, stores, and processes data like weather, traffic speeds, congestion, crashes, in addition to onboard vehicle status, that measures when air bags are deployed.
Press Secretary for ODOT, Matt Bruning, said his agency will comb through the data to find areas with high crash risks on Ohio’s highways. If its “Predictive Crash Location Integration” system reaches a certain threshold, ODOT can take proactive measures, like reducing the speed limit, to improve highway conditions, according to Bruning.
The second potential use of the data system focuses on airbag deployment data, explained Bruning.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is ensuring that our communities have the resources they need to grow their economy, keep Ohioans safe, and improve the everyday lives of residents,” said a statement from Brown.
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Source: Cleveland.com
