All eyes on CBD traffic

Starting today visitors to Hutt City’s CBD may notice an extra set of eyes beside the road, drive over black rubber sensors or see some intelligent cameras taking in truckloads of data.

Hutt City Council is undertaking a comprehensive traffic study from today until Saturday 24 April to better understand transport and car parking in the CBD.

Consultants SKM Ltd and Team Traffic with the help of St Bernard’s senior pupils and staff, will collect data on pedestrian, cycle and vehicle traffic and public transport.

The study is part of the CBD Making Places project and urban design manager Paki Maaka says understanding traffic flows will assist council in making informed decisions about future development.

“The results of this work will allow us to add in a proposed building or a change in road layout and find out how it might affect traffic patterns and movement within the CBD.”

More than 30 observation points will be set up using portable CCTV cameras and road surface mounted traffic counters.

The cameras can recognise number plates and will be used to estimate travel times, where vehicles are coming from and going to, and the travel time between points.