Adding Adaptive Just Got Easier

Miovision shared some news today: it is now the exclusive Canadian distributor of Surtrac adaptive traffic signal control from Rapid Flow Technologies. As Miovision’s Canada-wide distribution partner, selling and supporting its products, we at Stinson ITS are excited about what this means for Canadian municipalities: modernizing your intersections with smart, adaptive signals just got a lot easier.

For a lot of clients, the first question I hear is: why should a municipality commit budget to modernize their traffic signal network? My answer: because it will enable you to move more traffic through your existing road network, safely. As budgets have become tighter over the past year, optimizing your existing road network is more important than ever.

For most municipalities, the reality is that signal timing is far from optimized. Signals are often timed based on seasonal retiming efforts – at approximately $3000 per intersection – which means they represent a snapshot in time. Economic growth, more people working from home, special events – all can change traffic patterns and, pretty soon, you have poor signal coordination. Frustrated citizens are idling in traffic. That means you aren’t getting as much out of your traffic network as you could.

Update your signal network with Miovision TrafficLink, and instead of seasonal traffic data, you can have access to continuous, multimodal traffic data – the foundation for much more accurate timing plans. Analytics products like Intersection Health can even highlight intersections with suboptimal signal timing, helping you focus your retiming efforts where they’ll have the most impact. Most importantly, by collecting data all the time, you can make changes and actually measure the impact, enabling you to move more traffic, safely and efficiently.

Which brings us to today’s announcement. We can now help Canadian customers to pair the rich data that TrafficLink provides with Surtrac adaptive traffic signal control. Thanks to a seamless integration between TrafficLink and Surtrac, signal timing adapts second-by-second to changing conditions in traffic. And, not just vehicle traffic. Surtrac can integrate vehicle, pedestrian, bus, and bicycle traffic flows, according to your priorities. As active transportation has become a high priority for cities, it’s important to invest in technologies which provide consideration for all modes of transportation.

While most adaptive systems excel at a certain type of signal network, Surtrac optimizes all types of signal networks – whether it be downtown, arterials, freeway interchanges, or transit-heavy corridors – and is uniquely powerful in complex grid deployments where other adaptive systems struggle.

Adopting smart, adaptive signals can help reduce travel times by 25%, time spent waiting at a signal by 40% and stops by 30%. Fewer stops and acceleration can also reduce vehicle emissions by 20%. It’s a powerful tool for improving traffic.

From an implementation perspective, Stinson, Miovision, and Rapid Flow Tech staff work together to ensure a smooth deployment, turn-on, and ongoing support of the system.

If you’re a Canadian municipality and would like to learn more about pairing TrafficLink and Surtrac, visit the Stinson ITS website for more details. We will also be hosting a webinar on Nov 3, 2021 with Greg Barlow, CTO of Rapid Flow Technologies, to review this solution in detail and to answer your questions. I hope you’ll join us.