DOT Pulls Plug on High-Tech Work Zones: Engineers Say Faulty Equipment, High Cost Scuttled Smart Work Zones

The Department of Transportation has decided its Smart Work Zone wasn’t such a smart idea. The U.S. 1/Cary Parkway construction zone was wired with sensors, data trailers and cameras. Now all the high tech monitoring equipment is gone. The Triangle’s first Smart Work Zone featured a series of high-tech orange trailers. The trailers fed real-time traffic information to flashing message signs and a Web site. It was a driver’s heads-up on lane closures and congestion. Now all the orange trailers are gone.