http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sGlL_sQXoo

WKTV, Utica, NY – If you look closely at the intersection of Genesee Street and the Parkway in Utica, you’ll see a new device now sitting above one of the traffic lights. It looks like a small white Liberty Bell. It’s actually a panoramic camera. It’s one of many panoramic cameras the city will be installing from downtown to New Hartford to make travel easier and safer.

These cameras will keep the street lights green for travel north and south on Genesee street, as long as there are no vehicles waiting on the cross street at the intersection. Utica Mayor David Roefaro says the new system will make your travel much speedier and a lot less frustrating.

The new cameras are just one part of the city’s new traffic light system for Genesee Street. The second part is a preemption system designed to allow firetrucks to preempt, or change the lights to green as they approach the intersections.

The firetrucks will have a GPS system that will be turned on whenever its siren lights are on, and that system will change the traffic lights automatically.

Utica Mayor David Roefaro says he has successfully secured 500 thousand dollars in Federal Department of Transportation funding to help pay for the project.

The installation of the remaining cameras and preemptive system won’t take place until the state budget is passed. As soon as that is passed, the federal funding for the project will be released.