Stop and go traffic is a headache for any driver, but a partnership between Naperville and DuPage County could help ease congestion in the city.
The DuPage County Division of Transportation will soon add Naperville’s traffic signals and cameras to its monitoring system, which allows remote adjustments based on current conditions.
“If something happens like an accident and vehicles can no longer go a certain way and maybe they’re taking a different route, the signal could see there are a lot more vehicles coming on a minor approach that doesn’t usually get that much green time. So it’ll know to give maybe 20 or 30 more seconds to that route to make sure traffic can get through the intersection more efficiently,” said Kelly Dunne, project engineer with the City of Naperville.
The county is also expanding the system from 72 traffic signals to 200. Signals affected in Naperville will mostly be along 75th Street.
The plan will cost $4.5 million, mostly from federal funding.
“We’ve been looking to do it,” said DuPage County Transportation Department Chairman Don Puchalski. “We’ve finally got the funds and availability to do it. We want to make congestion less when we can, and it’s a public safety issue as well.”
Construction is expected to begin on the project in 2019.
Naperville News 17’s Beth Bria reports.