Calif. cities to get traffic sensors

Traffic.com has signed an agreement with the California Transportation Department (Caltrans) to install digital roadside traffic sensors in two metropolitan areas.

Sensors in San Jose and Sacramento will monitor about 1,000 miles of expressway.

Traffic.com’s work with Caltrans dates to 2003, when it signed a deal to install sensors in Los Angeles. That project originated under Traffic.com’s Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure Program contract with the Federal Highway Administration. The contract now falls under FHWA’s Transportation Technology Innovation and Demonstration (TTID) Program.

The company said it will provide the two new sensor systems and associated services at no cost to state and local government agencies. It pays for the sensors’ construction, operational costs and ongoing maintenance under the FHWA-funded TTID initiative.

Traffic.com generates revenue from sensors in a number of ways. The company sells Web-based, e-mail and voice advertising to national companies such as Lexus, Home Depot and Ford Motor Co. It also sells traffic data to companies that provide such information via mobile devices, Web sites, satellite radio and in-car navigation systems, according to Traffic.com.

The company said it will reinvest a portion of the revenue to expand the sensor system.

Officials said they plan to place the latest batch of sensors along major portions of Interstate 280, I-680 and U.S. Highway 101 around the San Jose area and portions of CA-99, I-5, I-80 and U.S. Highway 50 near Sacramento. The company aims to complete the deployment by the end of 2007.