Devices will help solve traffic problems

Technology purchase will address speeding

06/20/01
by laura beitman

Now that the county bureau of traffic engineering has purchased $10,000 worth of technology to more accurately track speeders, officials say they can address the backlog of six problem areas in the Parkville and Carney areas. "The bureau will do a comprehensive review when the technology arrives," bureau chief Darrell Wiles said last week. The new speed/classifiers equipment is expected to arrive in the next few weeks, he said. Placid Avenue, Pinedale Drive, Summit Avenue, Avondale Avenue, Ridgely Road, and others, are on the "shopping list of locations" of the approximate 24 locations that will be initially addressed county-wide, Wiles said.

The magnetic imaging devices, each the size of a pipe cleaner and placed in the road, can collect traffic data including speed, volume, vehicle type and direction for 24 hours a day, three days in a row. Manufactured by Nu-metrics, the devices have been used in the city of Gaithersburg and are being reviewed by several other Maryland jurisdictions, Wiles said. "I think this will shed some light on what's actually causing the problem," he said.

Currently, the bureau responds to problems by performing a manual assessment, Wiles said. The assessments typically include manning a site for four hours _ two in morning rush hour and two in the evening. Management of school sites and other sites varies, he said. "It was not really comprehensive," he said. Wiles said he hopes the devices will not only solve the discrepancy between the data the bureau collects in assessing problems and what the community sees, but help police enforce traffic laws.

Parkville and Carney residents from Glenside Drive to Orbitan Road have voiced their complaints about speed, volume, cut-through traffic, commercial vehicles, and mailboxes being hit by cars at community meetings in the past months. Many residents say traffic is their No. one problem that isn't going away. "It's gotten worse," said Second Avenue resident Mike Rupp, who serves as president of the Carney Improvement Association, referring to cut-through traffic in recent months. "People are screaming (about traffic)," Rupp said. "We do need the new technology. It's long overdue."