Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
People in Havre have started noticing cameras mounted on stoplights in town, leading them to wonder what is being recorded, and by whom. But the cameras have a completely benign purpose, a representative of the Montana Department of Transportation said they monitor traffic so the lights know when to change. “That controls the lights turning from east-west to north-south ,” said Gary Berg, MDT engineering project manager. “That way it only has to turn when there actually is traffic.” Berg said the cameras are being used to set the traffic lights to turn depending on the rate of traffic, which has been the case for a stoplight at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 13th Street that now has one of the a cameras to register a lane that did not have a detector. The cameras will be used to regulate the new lights on 1st Street, as well. The procedure generally is controlled with underground loop-detectors, which register when traffic is in the lane and tells the stoplights toChange. Berg said the cameras were used instead for the light on 5th Avenue and the new light installed at the intersection of 1st Street and 7th Avenue. One of the cameras has been mounted on the stoplight on the east side of the intersection of 5th Avenue and 13th Street to help register traffic at the light on 13th Street. Berg said that is because when a lane was added for the east-bound traffic on 13th Street, creating a turning lane, the underground loopdetectors did not register traffic in the southernmost lane. The light would not change because cars are waiting in that lane. To correct that issue, the camera was installed as part of the work being done on 5th Avenue this fall, Berg said. On the intersection at 1st Street and 7th Avenue, the camera was installed to prevent having to cut into the deck of the viaduct to install loop-detectors. Berg said the new stoplights on 1st Street will be timed but the loop-detectors will also speed up the changing of the lights depending on the traffic. He said the lights will be synchronized to reduce the amount of time people will have to wait at different lights. “In theory, drivers shouldn't have to stop at every stoplight,” Berg said. “The lights should cycle with themselves as well as traffic.”
