MnDOT in process of installing Rural Intersection Conflict Warning System
Drivers heading west or east on Minnesota State Highway #60’s four-lane bypass lanes around Mountain Lake can spy some strange, but interesting, gear set up in the road ditches at the highway’s intersection with Cottonwood County Road #1, as well as Cottonwood County Road #27.
No matter which direction you are heading on “60,” when you meet and cross those intersections – Smile! – for you are caught on camera.
According to Rebecca L. Arndt, Public Information Officer of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) District 7 Headquarters in Mankato, “We (MnDOT) are in the process of installing a Rural Intersection Conflict Warning System (RICWS) – and the cameras are being installed to study how traffic behaves with this type of traffic control.”
On the MnDOT website’s Traffic Engineering link, Ken Hansen, of MnDOT’s Office of Traffic, Safety, and Technology, notes that MnDOT is using this technology at at-risk rural intersections to give motorists real-time warnings about traffic conditions. The goal of the RICWS project is to reduce the fatal and serious injury crashes at rural non-signalized intersections. This will be done through the deployment of intersection conflict warning systems at rural, stop-controlled intersections.
These systems address crashes at stop-controlled intersections by providing drivers (on both major and minor roads) with a dynamic warning of other vehicles approaching the intersection.
MnDOT has designed several kinds of signs that address safety concerns at various locations throughout Greater Minnesota. One type of sign will advise drivers on major roads with flashing lights and the language, “Entering Traffic When Flashing.” Motorists on minor roads will see the flashing lights and the message, “Traffic Approaching When Flashing.” The systems use detection, signage and flashing lights to grab the driver’s attention and notify them of approaching traffic. The signs have a light attached that flashes when the system is triggered by an approaching vehicle.
The ENTERPRISE Pooled Fund Study, of which MnDOT is a member, is conducting and collecting research on rural intersection conflict warning systems nationwide. Members agencies come from both North America and Europe. Its main purpose is to use the pooled resources of its members, private sector partners and the United States federal government to develop, evaluate and deploy Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).
Find out more about RICWS at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/trafficeng/signals/conflictwarning.html
