As cities grow, managing busier intersections becomes increasingly challenging for traffic engineers and technicians. Springdale, AR, provides a vivid example of a bustling city that experiences moderate to heavy daily congestion. Unlike typical areas with regular traffic flow patterns, Springdale’s traffic is heavy and constant all day. The city is home to major companies such as Walmart and Tyson Foods, Inc. Springfield serves as the central transportation hub and gateway to Northwest Arkansas, generating a disproportionately high volume of commercial vehicles and trucks that pass through the area.
The city of Springdale, aware of the complex traffic situation, continuously seeks new technologies to manage traffic flows effectively. Kurt Reither, a Traffic & Signalization Supervisor in Springfield, emphasizes the importance of AI-powered systems in his work. To gain control of problematic intersections, he utilizes the CYCLOPS AI Video Detection and Timing Plan Generation System as an outstanding example of such a tool. Currently, Kurt is responsible for managing 84 traffic signals, with the Wagonwheel and Northbound Ramp intersection being the most troublesome area. Kurt and his team installed the CYCLOPS system because of the unpredictable congestion experienced at this intersection.
Kurt explains, “In the evening, we were having a lot of backed-up traffic for about a half a mile coming into this intersection, coming right off I-49 and getting on I-49 Northbound. Our roads are very limited. We have one Eastbound lane that handles the left turn to get onto I-49 Northbound and through. And if we have one person trying to turn to get on I-49, it just backs up traffic all the way through and gridlocks everything while that one car just sits there.”
CYCLOPS swiftly resolved the issue in just a few seconds! Its detection and recognition precision enabled Kurt to anticipate the necessary traffic maneuvers. Notably, the system provided a perfect record with zero false positives or negatives. This highlights the reliability of CYCLOPS for traffic engineers and technicians.
Kurt assures, “Every car is getting an address, and CYCLOPS tracks it through the intersection, which is counted, and the system automatically knows whether a vehicle turned left, right, or did a U-turn. Everything! It can see if the traffic has been sitting there for a certain time and open it up to flush that out!”
CYCLOPS was undoubtedly instrumental in assisting Kurt during a challenging situation, and, more importantly, it will continue to provide support in any scenario. As the unwavering eye, CYCLOPS is a dependable system that traffic engineers can rely on as their most valued resource.
