Lorain engineering presents pilot traffic‑signal monitoring, seeks grant funding to expand cameras and detection

Veronica Newsom, an engineering department presenter for the City of Lorain, described a pilot program that installs video cameras, cabinet telemetry and continuous traffic counting at selected traffic signals and said officials will pursue grant funding to extend the system.

The update matters because the city is using new detection and monitoring tools to identify traffic patterns, reduce response times for outages and build safety cases for federal or state funding for additional signal upgrades.

Newsom told the committee the city’s inventory shows 42 signals; 17 are now using single‑camera video detection (Miovision) and remote cabinet monitoring (Glance software). The systems provide live cabinet health data (temperature, voltage, door open, fan status), 24/7 traffic counts, and cached video that is stored in a lower resolution for privacy. Newsom said the single fish‑eye camera design reduces maintenance problems along the lakeshore caused by wind and weather.

The presentation included sample data for the intersection of 20th/58th and for 58th/611. Newsom said one seven‑day sample showed roughly 16,000 vehicles with about 2% trucks; a separate one‑day sample showed about 13,000 vehicles and lower truck percentages on Sunday. She said the automated counts and reports reduce the need to hire consultants for repeated manual studies (which she said can cost $10,000–$50,000 per study) and allow the city to build safety and mobility cases for grant applications.

Newsom said the department will seek Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding in the next application cycle and described Department of Energy funds used on prior corridor work; she estimated the hardware and subscription software for continuous reporting at roughly $6,000 per intersection for the life of the service, while a full new mast‑arm signal with lighting and foundations can run about $250,000 or more. Council members asked cost and lifespan questions; Newsom gave ballpark figures (cameras about $10,000 apiece; monitoring subscriptions are commonly bundled into multi‑year grant requests and vendors quote 7–10 years of service life).

Council members raised neighborhood safety and warranting questions. Councilwoman Spingowski and others urged additional safety studies at intersections with schools and high pedestrian activity (examples cited: 30th & Paul, 20th & Pearl, East Erie & Missouri). Newsom said some signal warranting studies dated to 2015 and that she is working to re‑evaluate unwarranted signals near changed land uses such as the high school. Council members also discussed a travel‑safety app piloted on three signals and a proposed bridge status notification app tied to the same monitoring platform.

Newsom said the existing telemetry also helps overnight responses to alarms (a signal tech can check cabinet health from a phone before dispatching a crew) and that staff will continue the pilot and pursue grant funding to expand the cameras and telemetry. She recommended the city consider incremental upgrades to the remaining signals to capture continuous counts that support safety funding requests.

The presentation closed with examples of data outputs and a reminder that the system’s stored video is delivered at reduced resolution for routine traffic analysis, and that higher‑resolution footage for investigations is subject to public‑safety protocols.

Looking ahead, Newsom said two additional intersections will be upgraded this year, and the department will apply for CMAQ or safety grant funds to add cameras and monitoring to more of the city’s signals.