Montgomery County Northstar - advanced transportation system

I met with Mr Fred Koehler, Traffic Manager Precinct 3 Montgomery County, to discuss traffic cameras, red light cameras and Road/signal light construction in The Woodlands.

I'd first like to let everyone know that the atmosphere in this office is awesome, much better than most government offices. I've worked with Mr Koehler on several issues so he knew I had an interest in what they were doing; why and how. The easiest way to explain my experience and to espress the information I learned would be FAQ style. Mr Koehler would like to remind all that the doors are always open for people to see their systems and where tax dollars are being spent. It's important to note that Mr Koehler takes the 'long' way to work and back to hit 65 intersections each way to ensure all is in order. It's my belief that he does not get paid extra for this. On behalf of Community activist of The Woodlands and residents of The Woodlands, thank you!

1. You have this very elaborate (see above photo) traffic system with 250 cameras between 23 & 46 optical zoom. Whose watching? The Traffic division has someone watching the cameras 24x7 with 4 employees. The system can be accessed from employees homes as if they were in the office. The Sheriffs Office, Houston Tanstar and Montgomery County traffic assist has remote wireless access.



2. What are the cameras all about? The entire camera system, which is handled remotely, includes 150 miles of fiber which has been purchased / leased wisely to ensure there will always be connectivity. Nothings perfect, but in my opinion they have done their best. As mentioned before there are 250 cameras with zoom capacity between 23 & 46. Mr Koehler showed me the distance a 23 camera could zoom and rotate and I was very impressed with the clarity and the ability for the camera to see the exact spot required. In the same photo above you can see there are two large screens with smaller screens, there are also additional monitors on traffic managers desks, in the middle. The middle screens are monitoring all cameras 24x7 and will alert trouble spots that can be enlarged on the bigger screens. None of the cameras are recorded, they are simply used for real time monitoring. Recording all 250 cameras, even with a 10-20 minute re-record would require a huge amount of storage space and the county does not believe it would be beneficial, mostly due to cost. The only exception for recording are the red light cameras, which are recorded and every hour or two the information is dumped to the red light management company in Arizona.



3. Why do we have the cameras? Safety is the first logical reason. If you are having car trouble on I45 the traffic managers may notice that and send support. The assistance program or Sheriffs office often call in and ask if cars are stranded at certain locations and to get vital information about accidents to save valuable travel time and get the proper response team to the location. The cameras are incredibly beneficial at intersections during morning and evening rush hours. Signal timing can be manipulated from miles away to ensure traffic flows out of and into The Woodlands as best as possible.



4. Why does it take so long to drive down Woodlands Parkway? First we all need to understand that Woodlands Parkway is not a traditional parkway. It may have been a parkway back in the day when the first and only exit was Grogan's Mill. Woodlands Parkway is actually a limited access road. Limited access basically means there are no driveways on the road, just intersections. "Woodlands Limited Access Road" just doesn't have much flare so we'll have to deal with Woodlands Parkway at this time. So back to why? If it was a perfect world and everyone started at the exact same location, stayed in their own lanes and ALL did the exact same speed then the system would be amazing. The real world; the person entering Woodlands Parkway from the flyover during rush hour may be in perfect position to make it all the way past Gosling and not hit one red light. Well, as soon as this person hits the parkway; 6 cars have already run red lights at the smaller cross streets, 25 cars have switched lanes in front of this persons car and people are driving anywhere between 40 and 65. This all happens before the person hits Grogan's Mill Road. Then BAM, two lanes after Grogan's Mill. The traffic manager do their best adjusting the timing after Grogan's Mill, but by that time so many people have switched lanes, run red lights and varied their speed that they can only do so much. Cars make 65K trips through the light on Woodlands Parkway at the East Panther Creek intersection daily. Traffic lightens after the Panther Creeks and Gosling intersections, but with the grouth in The Woodlands, you can guarantee it will only get worse. The Woodlands Developer is responsible for all new road construction in The Woodlands. The Roads are later conveyed to the Montgomery County. The County has little to no say on adding more access roads into The Woodlands from I45.



5. How does the system know a car, motorcycle or person is at an intersection waiting? You will see from the photo that some areas where there are cars have green boxes around them and some areas that have no cars have a empty black box where a car could possibly approach. Once a car enters the black box it turns green and the system knows there is a car there and makes sure that the car is put into the lighting rotation. If there are no cars at one side of an intersection the system will simply ignore that part of the intersection and worry about getting the traffic through the areas that have cars. Montgomery County has taken care of motorcycles too. Gone are the days of having to make sure your bike is on the embedded metal strip in the road to trigger the light. Similar to the cars, once a motorcycle hits the black bog, it will turn green and now be in the signal rotation. Pedestrians, who hit the crosswalk button, will be put into the rotation and even though it may not seem like it, the pedestrians waiting time is shortened by hitting the button. It wouldn't make sense to stop traffic immediately for a person to walk across the street.



6. Why does it take so long to install and activate traffic lights? Currently signal lights are being installed down a major section of Lake Woodlands that have traditionally been stop signs to ease the congestion of motorist using Lake Woodlands to get in and out of The Woodlands. I specifically asked about Lake Woodlands and New Trails. Mr Koehler assured me that they have that intersection first on their list. The issue with a large project like this is that the infrastructure, all down Lake Woodlands, needs to all be in place prior to putting up the lights. The plan is to start at New Trails and move into The Woodlands. I also learned that every intersection is designed from scratch. So that basically means that there's not a pile of poles and lights just waiting. I found that interesting and can only imagine the cost. Again the Woodlands Developer runs the show on new construction and then conveys to the County.



7. Some lights trigger as soon as I drive up to the intersection, why? A perfect example of this scenario is the light at Gosling and Shadowbend. Since the congestion is not high at this intersection and it's not on the major grid, it's an independent light. The system still sees the cars in the green boxes and changes the signaling rotation immediately. This type of independent signaling would be impossible on Woodlands Parkway since the traffic would constantly stop due to traffic coming off the multiple intersections.