The North Fulton Community Improvement District (NFCID) has become the first region in the state of Georgia to approve the deployment of Connected Vehicle (CV) technology to improve road safety and driver wait times at intersections.
Located in the northern portion of metropolitan Atlanta’s Fulton County, the NFCID is an infrastructure financing mechanism funded by commercial property owners within the district, which includes the cities of Alpharetta, Milton and Roswell. The NFCID board has approved the installation of a state-of-the-art CV system that will connect 44 contiguous intersections within the North Fulton region. The NFCID will partner with Georgia-based Applied Information Inc. (AII), one of the USA’s leading providers of intelligent transportation infrastructure technology, to begin deploying its portfolio of Glance ‘hybrid’ three-way CV technologies throughout the North Fulton area.
The project will equip all the District’s intersection traffic signals with special technology to communicate with vehicles and provide audio cues of ‘red light running’ and ‘get ready for green’. Deployment of AII’s Glance Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) system will save fire, EMS and police crews approximately 10-12 seconds per intersection by automatically getting green lights, while all other traffic is safely brought to a halt. The technology will also enable equipped transit buses to have green light priority.
The project will see the deployment of AII’s groundbreaking ‘hybrid’ technology that encompasses all three connected vehicle communication platforms including: 4G LTE wireless broadband, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), and Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X). Motorists, cyclists and pedestrians will also be able to download AII’s TravelSafely smartphone app for free, which will connect them to the new technology, offering warnings of potentially dangerous road conditions and traffic light Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) information. The NFCID will contribute US$308,000 toward the project, which will cover all intersections currently within its boundaries. The program will continue to add partners and areas where the technology can be applied over the coming months.
“This initiative certainly positions Georgia, and the North Fulton community, as a leader in the connected vehicle arena,” said Kerry Armstrong, chairman of the North Fulton CID. “The technology enables us to provide next level direct connection between intersections, vehicles and motorists. It’s a true game changer.”
NFCID’s executive director, Brandon Beach, added, “This is an exciting day for our community as we bring this next level Connected Vehicle technology to North Fulton. We are thrilled to be partnering with Applied Information to bring this to life, and subsequently provide first responders, transit buses, commuters and special events an avenue to more safely and efficiently navigate our streets and the community.”
