ITS - Los Angeles completes citywide intelligent transportation system

March 26, 2013

The city of Los Angeles completed the implementation of a citywide intelligent transportation system (ITS) in February, adding the last of its nearly-4,400 signalized intersections to the network. It is the first city in the world to complete a full-city ITS.

The city of Los Angeles completed the implementation of a citywide intelligent transportation system or ITS in February, adding the last of its nearly-4,400 signalized intersections to the network. It is the first city in the world to complete a full-city ITS.

The entire ITS network is monitored by the Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control System (ATSAC), which is operated out of a former bomb shelter beneath City Hall East.

Video feeds from more than 400 cameras across the city allow traffic engineers to directly observe individual intersections. The ITS is supported by loop detectors embedded in the roadway, which offer data on traffic volume, speed and position. Using these two sources of information, engineers can reprogram traffic signals at individual intersections to accommodate for any event that might impact congestion using ITS.

ATSAC has already sold its proprietary ITS software to the cities of Long Beach and Gilroy, Calif., and hopes to sell it to Washington, D.C., in the near future.