Astute drivers may recently have observed more efficient traveling on Provo's busiest corridors. And if no one notices the traffic, then Provo's new cutting-edge traffic control center is working.

"The corridors have gotten progressively better," said City Engineer Nick Jones. "We've got traffic working quite smoothly and coordinated."

A dozen computer monitors and large projector screens are stacked in a second-floor room of Provo's Public Works building. Thousands of electronic components in the control center and on the streets constantly monitor traffic on 12 main corridors through Provo. City engineering staff spot congestion via video and mitigate it remotely by adjusting the traffic signal timers.

"That saves us a tremendous amount of time," Jones said. "It used to take us three to four weeks to re-time one corridor, and now we can do it in three to four hours."

The facility will be especially useful to avoid gridlock before and after sporting events, concerts and other crowd magnets. During Brigham Young University football games, for instance, city engineers will perch on the stadium roof and coordinate with traffic control center personnel via laptop computers.

"If we know the game is letting out, we can be there and use the timers to flesh out all the traffic," Jones said.

The control center has been a dream of city engineers for at least seven years while they secured half a million dollars needed for the facility. Federal transportation funds covered most of the cost, and Provo City contributed 7 percent, about $35,000. It took another year to convert a former water supply room into a suitable space for a high-tech control center, and administrators still are stocking it with the latest gadgets.

This summer contractors will install more than 100 new cameras, worth $3.5 million in federal funds, at intersections to sense approaching vehicles and switch red lights to green when appropriate.

Four video cameras already monitor each of about 27 of Provo's 85 signal-controlled intersections, supplemented by a dozen closed-circuit televisions which pan up and down the corridors. University Avenue alone has 25 signals from end to end.

Jones anticipates within a month Provo will connect to the Utah Department of Transportation's commuter link program, enabling drivers to view real-time footage of their routes.

"With community efforts and UDOT working together over time, in the future we will have improved coordination between signals, both on state highways and local roads," said Geoff Dupaix, a UDOT spokesman.

The operations currently rely on city engineering staff to continually check traffic status, but Provo is hiring one employee to man the control center full-time. As a condition to receive the federal transportation funds, the city paid 7 percent of the project cost. Yet overall, Jones said the operation will save Provo money.

"We're trying to stay on the cutting edge of traffic technology, and the money is a lot better economically spent making sure we can get traffic up and down the corridors efficiently rather than widening the streets," he said. "It's several times more cost-effective to optimize your signal systems than rebuild your streets."

Provo's traffic control center also tests the latest devices for the national transportation market. Even in its early stage, representatives of several larger cities have traveled to Provo to tour the center.

"It's a step in the right direction, and it's a very important step," Dupaix said of Provo's traffic control efforts. "Monitoring that on a daily basis will be of big benefit to the motorists."

The new control center directs traffic on 12 corridors in Provo. Signals along University Avenue are timed first, then on the major east-west cross streets and then the north-south corridors. The monitored streets include:

* University Avenue

* Freedom Boulevard (200 West)

* State Street (500 West)

* 900 East

* 300 South

* 100 South

* Center Street

* 100 North

* Bulldog Boulevard

* University Parkway

* 2230 North

* 4800 North

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.