A system designed to detect and alert wrong-way drivers on Interstate 17 in Phoenix is moving forward, the Arizona Department of Transportation announced this month.
ADOT crews installed thermal cameras and fiber optic cables at I-17's Indian School Road interchange over the weekend, the department said. That work caused the first traffic restrictions required for a project that eventually will cover a 15-mile stretch of I-17, from Interstate 10 to State Route 101 (Loop 101). The system should be fully operational by early 2018, ADOT said.
The project came about after a spate of crashes, many of them fatal, on I-17 involving wrong-way drivers. The system will use thermal cameras to detect wrong-way vehicles at offramps, triggering an illuminated wrong-way sign and flashing lights intended to get the attention of the driver.
The system also will alert ADOT and the Arizona Department of Public Safety to the wrong-way driver, and will warn other motorists via the freeway's overhead message boards.
ADOT said in a news release that such a system will speed notification but can't completely prevent wrong-way driving, adding that ADOT, DPS and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety will continue to study ways to prevent such incidents.