The DOT's "Midtown in Motion" congestion management system will double in size, growing from a 110-block zone to a 270-block service area. The innovative system launched last July, and the DOT says it's resulted in an overall 10% improvement in travel times on the avenues. Using 100 microwave sensors, 32 traffic video cameras and E-ZPass readers at 23 intersections to measure traffic speeds, engineers in the DOT’s Traffic Management Center (TMC) have been able to spot congestion as it occurs and use "networked Advanced Solid State Traffic Controllers (ATSC) to remotely adjust Midtown traffic signal patterns" and unplug bottlenecks.

The expansion will include an additional 110 microwave sensors, 24 traffic video cameras, and 36 E-ZPass readers, and will become fully operational this September. According to an announcement from the DOT, the service area will more than double in size to include Midtown, from 1st to 9th avenues and from 42nd to 57th streets. The expansion will cost $2.9 million, with $580,000 coming from the city, and the rest from New York State. Another $2 million is being invested in 200 new ASTCs, $1.6 million of that from the Federal Highway Administration and the remainder from the city taxpayers.

The data from the sensors and cameras is transmitted wirelessly in real time to the TMC in Long Island City, where engineers make constant adjustments to traffic signals. The real-time Midtown in Motion traffic information is also available on DOT’s website, on smartphones and tablets (and is also accessible to app developers).

Midtown's bike network is also getting an upgrade as part of the DOT's bike lane expansion. The DOT plans to install four new pairs of crosstown bike lanes through Midtown; if approved, the lanes would be tightly spaced, located on 39th and 40th Streets, 43rd and 44th, 48th and 51st, and 54th and 55th. Head on over to Streetsblog for a closer look at the lanes' "odd" design.

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