HOUSTON — The City of Houston is hoping to address one of its resident's biggest complaints - the traffic - with a $5.4 million dollar plan.
“It’s miserable, it’s bad and I've been here all my life,” Byron Keller, a Houston driver said about the traffic.
Under Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Vision Zero plan to end traffic deaths by 2030, the city council approved $5.4 million in spending to provide state-of-the-art traffic control capabilities throughout the city by replacing outdated equipment.
“I’ve sat at lights for a long period of time, I've seen people do things they probably shouldn’t have done because the lights just won’t change,” another Houston driver, Eeba Karanwi, said.
But there are some concerns from Houston drivers that the new action is just a band-aid to a deeper problem.
“I don’t know if it will help, because people are moving — just an overflow of people moving to Houston,” Houstonian Ayanna Brown said.
The new funding is expected to address persistent traffic issues. Officials said the up-to-date network will synchronize traffic signals and allow for remote management.
This includes dynamic message signs, closed circuit TV cameras to monitor crashes and vehicle and pedestrian detection systems.
And there could be a solution to dealing with the pesky blinking lights when there’s rain.
“You would assume that at least those types of items will be weatherproof or be able to function in such conditions,” Karanwi said.
The city claims the new platform will be weather resistant to withstand extreme outdoor climate conditions.
The plan will take 10-12 weeks to be deployed throughout the city.
Councilmember Abbie Kamin gave KHOU 11 the following statement on the plan:
"This is one piece of a much larger scale effort to move our city forward when it comes to technologies. Many of our systems are beyond the end-of-life and desperately need to be updated. From adapting to increasing congestion, autonomous vehicles on the roads, and improving cyber security and resiliency protections for our systems, there's a lot to this that will help ensure things run smoothly for drivers and pedestrians alike."
Click here for more information on the city's plan.