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Edmond council approves ITS Phase 4 funding after staff details cameras, signal upgrades and added federal support
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Summary
The council approved staff recommendations for two ITS funding items after an engineering presentation explaining traffic-signal upgrades, real-time video for incident management, emergency-vehicle priority improvements and a Phase 4 construction plan supported by additional ODOT federal funds.
Steve Lawrence, director of engineering, told the Edmond City Council on Sept. 9 that the city’s Intelligent Transportation System program will expand to cover a new set of corridors under a Phase 4 project and that upgrades to signals and real-time communications will improve traffic flow, incident response and emergency-vehicle priority. Lawrence said the system links traffic signals to a traffic management center and adds real-time video and traffic counting to reduce on-street personnel needs.
Lawrence said the city has completed three ITS phases and that roughly 65% of Edmond’s 109 signals are now connected to the system. He described Phase 4 coverage (including Danforth, parts of Bryant, Boulevard, 9th and 33rd east of Broadway) and presented an estimated construction cost of about $15 million for the phase. Lawrence said the city had secured $7,500,000 in federal dollars and that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation identified additional federal funding; from that pool Lawrence said the city received an increment of $2,700,000 and stated a total of $10,200,000 in federal funds for the project. He told the council ODOT will advertise for bids in October and that the city must turn funds over to ODOT by the end of the month.
Council members asked how ITS video and records are handled. Lawrence said access to incident video is available through the Edmond Police Department and that the city retains records for a defined period. He also clarified that the ITS cameras are traffic-flow devices, not automated ticketing cameras.
After the presentation and questions, a council member moved to approve items 9b(1) and 9b(2) related to ITS and the council voted to pass the items. Lawrence said construction for Phase 4 should begin late this fall or early next spring and that the phase will likely take about 18 months to complete once under way.
Why it matters: The Phase 4 expansion extends the reach of Edmond’s signal-control infrastructure, adding video and real-time coordination that staff say will speed incident response and improve traffic operations at busy intersections and during special events.
