Burnside thermal cameras to ease traffic congestion

Smile, Burnside drivers. You're on camera.

The cameras, set to be installed later this year, use thermal imaging to identify and count the number of vehicles waiting to enter an intersection.

The city of Halifax plans to purchase four thermal cameras to install at the intersection of Burnside Drive and Commodore Drive. Similar cameras are already being used at University Avenue and Robie Street.

Made by a company called FLIR, the cameras can recognize cars, trucks, pedestrians and cyclists.

Currently, most intersections are coordinated using in-ground sensors or programmable timers. This system could adjust traffic light timing dynamically and autonomously.

City spokesperson, Jennifer Stairs, says the cameras used in Burnside will focus on vehicular traffic.

"What the city's looking to do is to use them to detect vehicles on the street, so we can look at lengthening or shortening the time of green lights at a particular intersection," she said.

The cameras can be harnessed in a variety of ways. They can be used to only prompt an advance green turn signal when cars are present in the turning lane, or they can count the number of cars in queue and vary the length of a green light with each cycle.

If the data collected from the cameras is useful to city officials, more cameras could be installed.

"We're always looking at new ideas and new technologies to improve traffic flow around the city," said Stairs."This is yet another idea that we're exploring to see if it'd be a good fit for Halifax."