Another $800K Coming to I-15 Traffic Project

Local agencies will have another $800,000 to help reduce congestion along a 21-mile stretch of Interstate 15 passing through Poway and Rancho Bernardo as part of a federal initiative to improve traffic conditions around the United States.

"Harnessing state-of-the-art technologies to create an integrated corridor management system can go a long way toward easing traffic on the I-15 corridor," SANDAG Executive Director Gary Gallegos said in a statement.

The latest grant—from the Federal Transit Administration—joins $8.7 million from a U.S. Department of Transportation award and $2.1 million in local funding for the Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) initiative.

San Diego is one of eight "pioneer sites" around the country in the project, and just one of two demonstration sites testing out a technology system to track traffic patterns and alert commuters about the swiftest methods for reaching their destinations. The focal point of the project is the 21-mile stretch on I-15 between state routes 52 and 78.

The initiative brings together seven local agencies to collaborate on a traffic management system: SANDAG, Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transit System, the North County Transit District and the cities of San Diego, Poway and Escondido.

The plan is for these agencies to use road sensors, video and traveler information to monitor traffic patterns and alert commuters via the Internet, changeable message signs and 511 of alternate routes.

The newest grant funding is slated to go toward technology to gather data about the speed and location of Bus Rapid Transit buses and how many passengers they are carrying.

The project is scheduled to go live in the spring of 2013.