Federal government pumps millions into west Alabama traffic management upgrades

TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - The federal government is putting $8 million behind a $16 million project to upgrade traffic operations in west Alabama.

The funds will help pay for a new fiber optic communication network along I-20/59 in Tuscaloosa County.

Information gathered there will be funneled to the traffic management center on the University of Alabama campus, ALDOT, and the city of Tuscaloosa.

Cameras and other sensors will give traffic managers and monitors more information so they can react faster to traffic problems and get that information out to drivers.

“We’ll also be deploying dedicated short range communication radios, or DSRC radios, hose will be used to communicate from vehicle to vehicle to infrastructure and it will be the next generation technology that will allow cars to cooperate with one another and managers from a system level,” said Alex Hainen, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University.

Those upgrades start in about three months and should be finished in three years.

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