June marks one year since the installation of remote-controlled, digital speed limit and lane closure signs on a 28-mile stretch of Interstate 24 in Tennessee.
Since the launch of the I-24 Smart Corridor project last year, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) reports an 8.5% decline in crashes where people were either hurt or killed.
In that time, there was a five percent increase in traffic volume, with an average of 180,000 vehicles traveling the I-24 corridor between Nashville and Rutherford County, each day, according to TDOT.
The $45 million improvements were intended to make the corridor safer and help limit traffic congestion.
In June of last year, TDOT told WKRN news that the structures, called gantries, have screens hanging over each lane, which inform drivers if the lane is open, if they need to prepare to merge because of an upcoming obstruction or accident, and how fast traffic is moving.
“I think this is something that we’ve really been working toward; it’s something that could really change the way we manage traffic in Tennessee,” said Rebekah Hammonds, TDOT community relations officer, in a statement to WKRN.
“What our goal is, is to reduce those secondary crashes. If someone can see that something’s happening up ahead, they’re not going to be maybe focused on your phone or GPS or talking to their passenger,” said Hammonds. “They’ll see the gantry and they’ll see the variable speed limit; they’ll know that there’s already a slowdown; it’s not going to come out of the blue for them.”
TDOT believes it’s seeing an increase in safety on the corridor, but likely more data is needed to determine how much the signs are working concerning drive times, according to Hammonds
“But we say this knowing this is where the first-choice lanes project will be implemented with the main goal of targeting congestion,” Hammonds said.
Source: WSMV.com, WKRN.com
