I-80 Smart Corridor, Bay Area/Eastshore Freeway

[andy3175]

It's best to see the picture of the sign test on the following link...

http://abc7news.com/traffic/caltrans-tests-i-80-smart-signs-designed-to-ease-traffic-/968133/

Caltrans tested a new system in Berkeley Thursday to help keep traffic moving on Interstate 80. The I-80 SMART Corridor Project aims to improve traffic in one of the most congested areas in the Bay Area.

The electronic signs have been installed between the Bay Bridge and Carquinez Bridge. Each lane has a sensor that gives drivers information. A green arrow means traffic is flowing. The signs can also tell drivers when to change lanes because of a crash or stall and suggest driving speeds based on conditions.

Thursday's test was from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Berkeley. More signs will be activated later this year.

Roughly 270,000 drivers a day brave a stretch of I-80 near Emeryville. Some drivers say their commute is miserable.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Army-of-Smart-signs-to-battle-the-beast-of-6483688.php

Slogging down Interstate 80, long the rite of non-passage in the Bay Area, may soon become a little easier for drivers, thanks to $79 million worth of new, high-tech, state-of-the-art signs. That's assuming anyone pays attention to them.

Westbound motorists weren't doing that Thursday morning in Berkeley. They weren't doing much of anything, and they were doing it at about 20 mph.
It was the first demonstration of the SMART Corridor Project signs, which are suspended above the roadway at 11 spots between the Carquinez and Bay bridges. Caltrans hopes they will shave precious minutes from countless millions of commute trips, as a similar system is doing in San Diego.

SMART is said to stand for "Safety, Mobility, Automated, Real-time Traffic Management"  and perhaps someday it will. ...

Caltrans says the signs, which will be switched on for keeps later this year, are the latest wrinkle in computerized traffic management. The signs will be operated by engineers in the Oakland traffic control center, who will evaluate information from sensors and cameras along the freeway.

They will operate only in the event of an accident or other unusual traffic situation – not merely to advise stuck rush-hour motorists that traffic is its usual, horrible self.

Another reason for the signs, Morrison said, is to appease residents along San Pablo Avenue, long used as a cut-through route when the freeway bogs down. More electronic signs on San Pablo Avenue will urge detouring motorists to return to I-80 as soon as freeway congestion eases.

On a busy day, 270,000 vehicles use the I-80 corridor, one of the most congested stretches in the Bay Area.

[KEK Inc.]

Very reminiscent of WSDOT's variable speed corridors in Seattle.

[The Ghostbuster]

So this is an ITS upgrade, with no physical improvements to Interstate 80 itself?

[TheStranger]

So this is an ITS upgrade, with no physical improvements to Interstate 80 itself?

Correct (I actually drove down this stretch of the Eastshore Freeway last night).  Basically overhead electronic signs to try to direct drivers away from accident spots.

[jrouse]

They are also putting in meters at the on ramps to westbound I-80 as part of this project.  This should go a long ways towards helping improve performance along I-80.


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