Mayor: To ease our traffic gridlock, we need to approve a new Miami-Dade traffic signal system
This week the Board of County Commissioners can take the single most consequential step to date toward making real improvement in traffic in Miami-Dade County to save drivers time and aggravation.
The contract to implement the leading technology in traffic signalization will be considered by the Infrastructure and Capital Improvements Committee. This system employs real-time data collected by traffic cameras and other devices to utilize information on main roads, as well as the side streets feeding those corridors, to continually adapt to changing conditions and mitigate traffic congestion before it happens.
A pilot program was implemented over the past two years on a few heavily utilized corridors and trip time improvement of between 3.5 and just over 10 percent, based on information gathered only on the main roads. When compared to other prospective bidders, the system to be implemented by the bidder that was recommended by a selection committee, Siemens Mobility, Inc., will provide superior traffic improvement because it looks at all traffic conditions, not just what is occurring on main corridors.
Think about how much easier it is to get around town when school isn’t in session; that is estimated to be just a five percent improvement. Imagine how much better local travel will be with a 15 percent improvement! That’s just what the winning bidder promises as part of the initial implementation, with a guaranteed payment back to the county if that is not achieved.
Siemens Mobility, Inc. is a $4 billion company, with broad experience in similar technology implementations. They will create jobs in our community, not just in hiring local workers for their local office, but also utilizing four small business subcontractors over the next five years to complete the project. The technology they implement will immediately utilize real-time data in concert with information from external systems to include information about bus and train schedules and, in the future, the ability to incorporate data from other mobility applications to become “predictive” and react before traffic problems occur.
Siemens Mobility, Inc. can do all of this for almost $80 million less than the next lowest bidder, saving money that can be used to further improve our community’s transportation systems.
Replacement of our traffic signal system was one of the original projects approved by the voters as part of the People’s Transportation Plan. This one project impacts every single resident of Miami-Dade County because whether we drive, take a taxi, Uber or Lyft, or use public transit, we are all on the streets of our county every day.
Reducing the amount of time it takes us to get from one place to another will improve not just our economy, but our residents’ quality of life.
I urge the Board to approve this contract so we can get going and make this promise a reality.
Carlos A. Gimenez is the Mayor of Miami-Dade County.