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Management center helps synchronize traffic by Park Meadows
The Douglas County Traffic Management Center has its eye on traffic around Park Meadows Town Center.
By By: Kathleen D. Stinson
The Douglas County Traffic Management Center has its eye on traffic around Park Meadows Town Center.
Placing cameras at strategic intersections, watching for long lines of cars and extending the green lights works, said Larry Corcoran, Douglas County traffic manager.
"The center improves traffic congestion around Park Meadows by 15-20 percent," Corcoran said.
Traffic around the mall typically increases 10 percent every year, he said.
Nine rotating cameras record traffic flow at 12 intersections around the mall. The system cost $275,000. Monitoring traffic reduces congestion into and around the mall, he said.
"It is a very cost-effective way to manage traffic," Corcoran said.
In the basement of Park Meadows Town Center, the traffic center is manned by two on-site operators during the holiday season. At other times, cameras feed into the county office in Castle Rock and are manned off-site.
The signals are synchronized according to day, time and proximity to Christmas and the system can run itself. Twelve plans are fed into the computer, but operators monitor traffic visually, adjust the signals and tweak the plans as needed.
The synchronized lights favor outbound traffic toward the end of the day and inbound early in the day. The cameras tilt, pan and zoom so the intersections can be viewed from all angles.
"We have triple the weekday traffic volume during the holidays," said Gary Partridge, center operator.
The center has another use: It records trouble spots and tapes are kept to show property owners what's going on, Corcoran said.
For example, operators noticed a problem at the entrance to Costco and the turn off Park Meadows Center Drive. The turn was too sharp and trucks continually were running over the curb.
Corcoran said the county took the tapes to area merchants. As a result, Costco paid to widen the entrance at Park Meadows Drive.
"It greatly improved the radius and trucks no longer drive over the sidewalk," Corcoran said.
The county is expanding the system to cover additional intersections. The system has the potential to handle 30 intersections, Corcoran said.
The next camera will be placed at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Interstate 25 after the first of the year. In March, the county will start watching the intersection of Quebec Street and Park Meadows Drive.
"We will add two to three cameras a year at key locations for the next three to four years," Corcoran said.
The center also has a computer that takes vehicle numbers and models different traffic scenarios.
The county wants to extend its cameras to obtain weather information.
Weather stations will be placed at Highlands Ranch Parkway and Broadway and also in the Roxborough area at Rampart and Waterton Roads at the first of the year. These cameras are stationary, but aimed toward known storm angles. The weather stations record temperature of pavement to determine when to salt and sand the roads and when the roads need plowing.
Corcoran says the stations monitor air and ground temperature, wind speed and wind direction. They also read humidity, barometric pressure and precipitation.
Paving and striping roads requires a specific road temperature and the weather stations provide information for these projects.
The weather stations reduce waste of energy, time, manpower and materials, Corcoran said.
The county also plans to expand its traffic camera system to augment the area's traffic incident management plan. When the county operator sees cars backed up on the interstate because of an accident, for example, he can lengthen green lights on South Yosemite Street, to handle traffic bypassing the incident area.
Park Meadows management donates the space and communication connections for the center and offsets some of the consultant costs during the holidays, he said.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has a similar camera system trained on Interstate 25 intersections throughout Denver. The county plans to connect into this system in the future.
Placing cameras at strategic intersections, watching for long lines of cars and extending the green lights works, said Larry Corcoran, Douglas County traffic manager.
"The center improves traffic congestion around Park Meadows by 15-20 percent," Corcoran said.
Traffic around the mall typically increases 10 percent every year, he said.
Nine rotating cameras record traffic flow at 12 intersections around the mall. The system cost $275,000. Monitoring traffic reduces congestion into and around the mall, he said.
"It is a very cost-effective way to manage traffic," Corcoran said.
In the basement of Park Meadows Town Center, the traffic center is manned by two on-site operators during the holiday season. At other times, cameras feed into the county office in Castle Rock and are manned off-site.
The signals are synchronized according to day, time and proximity to Christmas and the system can run itself. Twelve plans are fed into the computer, but operators monitor traffic visually, adjust the signals and tweak the plans as needed.
The synchronized lights favor outbound traffic toward the end of the day and inbound early in the day. The cameras tilt, pan and zoom so the intersections can be viewed from all angles.
"We have triple the weekday traffic volume during the holidays," said Gary Partridge, center operator.
The center has another use: It records trouble spots and tapes are kept to show property owners what's going on, Corcoran said.
For example, operators noticed a problem at the entrance to Costco and the turn off Park Meadows Center Drive. The turn was too sharp and trucks continually were running over the curb.
Corcoran said the county took the tapes to area merchants. As a result, Costco paid to widen the entrance at Park Meadows Drive.
"It greatly improved the radius and trucks no longer drive over the sidewalk," Corcoran said.
The county is expanding the system to cover additional intersections. The system has the potential to handle 30 intersections, Corcoran said.
The next camera will be placed at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Interstate 25 after the first of the year. In March, the county will start watching the intersection of Quebec Street and Park Meadows Drive.
"We will add two to three cameras a year at key locations for the next three to four years," Corcoran said.
The center also has a computer that takes vehicle numbers and models different traffic scenarios.
The county wants to extend its cameras to obtain weather information.
Weather stations will be placed at Highlands Ranch Parkway and Broadway and also in the Roxborough area at Rampart and Waterton Roads at the first of the year. These cameras are stationary, but aimed toward known storm angles. The weather stations record temperature of pavement to determine when to salt and sand the roads and when the roads need plowing.
Corcoran says the stations monitor air and ground temperature, wind speed and wind direction. They also read humidity, barometric pressure and precipitation.
Paving and striping roads requires a specific road temperature and the weather stations provide information for these projects.
The weather stations reduce waste of energy, time, manpower and materials, Corcoran said.
The county also plans to expand its traffic camera system to augment the area's traffic incident management plan. When the county operator sees cars backed up on the interstate because of an accident, for example, he can lengthen green lights on South Yosemite Street, to handle traffic bypassing the incident area.
Park Meadows management donates the space and communication connections for the center and offsets some of the consultant costs during the holidays, he said.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has a similar camera system trained on Interstate 25 intersections throughout Denver. The county plans to connect into this system in the future.
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