Google AI may resolve Ballina's traffic flow problems
This wonderful panoramic shot of Garden Street, looking towards Tone Street, was taken by Ballina-based photographer David Farrell in 2016.
Ballina councillors have given their backing to a proposal to replace all of the town’s traffic lights with a Google artificial intelligence system.
Speaking at last week's municipal district meeting, Independent Cllr Mark Duffy said the modern technology will interact with each set of lights and respond accordingly to improve traffic flows based on times of day and traffic volumes.
“Over the past number of weeks, we have all experienced a lot of malfunctioning lights at the Font and Bunree and it causes great frustration for everyone who lives and works in the area,” he said. “There are particular issues when there are power outages and lights get knocked off and the system needs to be reset.”
Cllr Duffy described the frequent traffic light failures as "a disgrace" and said there can often be a waiting period of several days for repairs. Tailbacks have become commonplace in Ballina, especially in summer.
“We want the town to be busy obviously, but we do not want unnecessary tailbacks and backlogs.”
Cllr Duffy said he understands Google has an artificial intelligence system that it is looking to pilot in different urban centres.
“I think if we take a hop, skip and jump and be the first town to actually use some of the most advanced systems I think it would be very helpful in terms of responding to the times of day when there are particular demands like school runs.”
Cllr Duffy also said he believes a roundabout would be more appropriate than lights at the bottom of Bunree.
His motion was seconded by Fine Gael Cllr Jarlath Munnelly who said he thought the idea is very innovative.
The council's senior engineer Orla Bourke said the current traffic light system is 20 years old and although it has road sensors it is not a modern MOVA (microprocessor optimised vehicle actuation) system.
"[The MOVA] reacts to all of the different loadings on each junction, and it talks to itself and it is quite a complex system,” she added.
Ms Bourke said a funding application is currently being worked on for an MOVA system, which is used throughout the country. She said it is the premier system and the one approved by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII)
“That is what TII supports and that is where the funding application will be going,” she added.
