Taking care of traffic in Boca Raton

By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR

The Boca Raton City Council took care of several traffic matters at a recent meeting.

Council members purchased four additional cameras for the city’s Advance Traffic Management System, at a cost of $111,300. The contract was awarded to Precision Contracting Services Inc. of Jupiter.

City Manager Leif Ahnell said this order piggybacks on another purchase of cameras made in February. In all, the cameras cost $554,600.

Boca Raton has traffic cameras at a number of intersections in the city that provide real-time video data to a monitoring station in the City Hall Annex.  From there, operators can regulate the traffic lights in case of traffic jams or other problems on the road.

The four new cameras will be located at the corner of Congress Avenue and Clint Moore Road, State Road A1A and Camino Real, Palmetto Park Road and Military Trail and Military Trail and Butts Road.

Ahnell said these purchases are “being funded through several developer contributions.”

The council also purchased 14 video detection systems at a cost of $408,205 from The Signal Group, also of Jupiter.

Assistant City Manager Mike Woika said these control traffic the way so-called “traffic loops” sensed if there were cars present on the road.  “This is another mechanism of controlling traffic,” he said.

Woika said the city has 40 video detection sites with a total of 160 cameras, and 15 sites with video monitoring.

In addition, Boca Raton and the state Department of Transportation have renewed a contract that allows the city to synchronize traffic signals on state roads. The existing contract between Boca Raton and DOT expires this year. 

Ahnell said the city receives a reimbursement from the state for doing the traffic signal synchronization.  A memo from the city manager said the city has received $430,420 for the past five years, and is scheduled to receive $491,000 for the coming five years.

A description of the project says the joint agreement provides funding for the salary, benefits and training for staff required to operate the Advance Traffic Management System.  Woika said it also allows the city to coordinate the light signals on both city and state roads so traffic can flow more smoothly.

Among the tasks that staff at the Advanced Traffic Management System center must perform are system enhancements, monitoring of traffic flow throughout the city, implement special timing plans, display appropriate messages on message boards, put detour signs into place, perform traffic signal studies and review traffic signal plans.