Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Biz Journal article on driverless cars:
FDOT committed to focus on wrong way driver detection, driverless cars
Feb 26, 2016, 2:54pm EST
KATHLEEN CABBLE
Wrong way drivers in the Tampa Bay will be the “primary” focus for the Florida Department of Transportation office for the region, Paul Steinman, FDOT district 7 secretary, said.
In a presentation on autonomous vehicle technology before the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) meeting Friday, Steinman said that its wrong way driver detection and alert system will remain as a “high focus of the department.”
Just last week, a wrong way crash killed two drivers on the Ashley exist ramp of Interstate 275 in Tampa. FDOT began a pilot program two years ago, following several such accidents, and installed red rectangular rapid flashing beacons along with wrong way signs at three locations in Hillsborough County; specifically Fowler Avenue, Fletcher Avenue and Bearss Avenue. The program also includes microwave vehicle detectors for wrong way movements in 15 locations and closed circuit television cameras at each interchange.
In a study released by FDOT last year, District 7 reported 24 wrong way crashes from 2009 to 2013. Seven of those crashes or 13.7 percent were fatal. In 2014, when there were 12 wrong way crashes, according to the FDOT, including a fatal one in which four University of South Florida fraternity brothers and the driver who ran into them died. District 7 includes Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties.
Steinman spent most of his presentation on autonomous vehicles. He said that Google’s research on such cars is coming to Tampa. He also noted that putting autonomous vehicles into practical use will have effect on roadway design in features such as lane width and directional sign. Unlike human beings who drift within lanes as they operate their cars, driverless cars are different, Steinman said.
“These vehicles stay within centimeters of the center of the lane,” he said.
Steinman’s presentation led Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman to comment: “roads actually, the bus service we see today will be obsolete in 10 years.” She called on TBARTA “to take a role of leadership among all the counties and try to help support us as the individual counties try to figure out what to do with transportation.” Murman noted that the region is behind the rest of the state when it comes to building a light rail system but noted that with driverless cars and similar technology “we could jump ahead of everyone with this.”
Joe Waggoner of the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, updated TBARTA on the connected vehicle pilot program that includes downtown Tampa ad also on Lee Roy Selmon Expressway West Extension, calling it the agency’s “highest priority.” The extension is a planned 1.6 million elevated structure whose pricetag will range between $160 million and $190 million. The goal of the project is to alleviate heavy traffic along Gandy Boulevard and link it to the Gandy Bridge. Waggoner said the agency is targeting December 2017 to begin construction and the project to be completed by 2020. During the construction, “our goal is to maintain two lands open at all times,” Waggoner said.
