FDOT/Bay County ITS Project Update

The FDOT and the Bay County Traffic Engineering Department are working to reduce the traffic congestion and travel time in the Panama City area by upgrading and expanding traffic signal controls at every intersection and adding closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at critical intersections. This project is to build an Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) is a partnership of several agencies, including the FDOT, Bay County Public Works, Bay County Traffic Engineering, Bay County School Board, the City of Panama City, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

The ATMS will be constructed in two phases:

• Phase I primarily involves deployment of conduit and fiber optic cable as the communication backbone along pre-identified routes to each intersection. This project will also provide the Bay County School Board with the necessary fiber optic backbone infrastructure needed for the future development of the communications network supporting Bay County schools.
• Phase II consists of installing the CCTV cameras; upgrading the traffic signal controllers in Bay County and Panama City along the fiber optic cable route; and renovating the existing Traffic Engineering Department facility to serve as the Transportation Management Center (TMC). The ATMS will also be integrated with the Hathaway Bridge ITS components and TMC software will be selected for controlling the arterial traffic signals and CCTV cameras.

The FDOT has contracted with World Fiber Technologies to design and construct Phase 1of the project, which includes the fiber optic infrastructure. World Fiber has subcontracted the system design to Genesis Group, the fiber optic splicing and testing will be performed by Corning Cable Systems, and Transcore will provide project management on the project.

The construction of the ATMS Phase I project is expected to be completed by March 2007, while the construction of the Phase II project is scheduled to be completed by December 2007.

Author: Tracy Forester

Date: 2006-03-21

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