As if "traffic pricing" and and pedestrian plazas weren't enough, Bloomberg announced today that he will use robots technology to reduce congestion and promote air quality in Midtown. Dubbed Midtown in Motion, the plan, which the mayor probably thought of after watching the director's cut of Blade Runner, will utilize "100 microwave sensors, 32 traffic video cameras and E-ZPass readers at 23 intersections" to monitor real-time traffic flow. The system will allow "engineers… to clear up Midtown jams at the touch of a button," the mayor says in a release. Wow! Will it also release "soothing light patterns" so we can finally sleep through all that honking?
In addition to responding to snags like accidents and double-parked vehicles, the new sensors will allow authorities to "switch more easily between a simultaneous signal pattern, where all the signals on the avenue turn green or red at the same time, and a traffic signal progression, which lets vehicles traveling at the speed limit encounter green lights as they drive along a corridor." The program cost the city $1.6 million (with $600K coming from the Feds), and included the installation of 53 turn lanes to intersections, giving vehicles an outlet to avenues from cross town streets without blocking the flow of traffic.
