Article content

As the Edmonton Oilers drop the puck on a new NHL season and more cars flow to and from Rogers Place, city officials are launching a pilot program on the nearby 101 Street that they hope will help reduce congestion on the road.

The pilot for a new adaptive traffic signal system will run for the next three months at all controlled intersections between 101 Street between 103A Avenue and 111 Avenue. The system uses cameras to detect both cars and pedestrians, then uses that information to alter traffic signal patterns.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or City looks to curb Oilers game-day traffic woes with $750,000 traffic signal pilot Back to video

“What adaptive traffic signals will do is allow us to change traffic signals relative to this particular corridor,” said Olga Messinis, the city’s director of traffic operations.

“This particular corridor sees a lot of variable traffic patterns, whereas a lot of corridors around our city see pretty steady and static travel patterns throughout the day.”

The timing of the trial to coincide with heightened use of Rogers Place was a coincidence, Messinis said, but one that should allow the city to evaluate how effective the new technology is.