Thursday, October 1, 2026
Intercity Transit, the City of Lacey and Washington State Department of Transportation have installed AI-fueled traffic sensors at select intersections, as part of a six-month regional project.
Ten intersections along Martin Way and near the Lacey Transit Center have been targeted for the project, agencies confirmed in separate statements. The safety test will run through November 2026.
The technology uses cameras and machine learning software to detect safety events, capturing data on near-misses, collisions, pedestrian concerns, vehicle speeds, delays, traffic counts and queue patterns.
According to Intercity Transit, when the system flags an incident, it records a clip of approximately 15 seconds. That footage is stored separately from safety data, deleted after 10 days, and used only to verify accuracy. The system will not be used for live monitoring.
Agencies will also use the safety test to assess whether the technology is accurate, efficient and reliable enough for expanded regional deployment.
Installation wrapped up overnight on May 21 after temporary lane closures and shifts along several Lacey roads. Work ran from May 18 through May 21, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., affecting Martin Way E, College Street SE, Sleater Kinney Road SE, Pacific Avenue SE and 6th Avenue SE.
The project partners laid out surveillance limitations ahead of installation.
"It is important to note these are not Flock cameras and are not used for law enforcement, surveillance, facial recognition, license plate reading or individual tracking," the City of Lacey said. "This project is focused on understanding how intersections function as a whole, not on monitoring individual people or vehicles."
Intercity Transit, the lead agency on the project, noted hardware limitations add another layer of protection. Sensors are mounted high above intersections using wide angle, fish-eye lenses.
The agency said the perspective "maximizes coverage but is not suited for facial recognition or license plate reading," and the system is "not for zooming in on individuals or specific vehicles."
Anonymized safety data will be restricted to authorized staff from the three partner agencies. Video footage may be reviewed by project consultants only when needed to verify system accuracy.
The findings are expected to inform signal timing adjustments, intersection safety improvements, as well as longer term infrastructure planning for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders. The sensors will use existing Lacey infrastructure, but will not connect to other municipal systems or equipment.
Intercity Transit framed the project as part of a regional push to test emerging transportation technology.
“Smart Sensor Demonstration Project will help transportation partners improve roadway operations and safety for transit riders, pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers," the agency said.
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DeaneTR
Not much mention of making it faster and having less stops when you drive through those intersections. What about not making someone wait at a light when there's no one else at the intersection at night? Maybe this new system can figure that out but doesn't sound like its their priority. As in only thing stupider than many of the drivers on the road is a traffic light like signals that thinks its ok to make you wait on a red light when you're the only one trying to get through an intersection.
Monday, May 25 Report this
JulieGeddes
Great to see they are collecting data for improvements. Will help make wise decisions.
Tuesday, May 26 Report this
GPodxt
We get this.. instead of the FLOCK. It’s a start.
But I don’t believe allowing Redditors.. to dictate what’s approved and not… not a good look.
The same idiots that get paranoid about “freedoms”… is the same idiots posting everything online.
How many cases of missing persons or murdered, have been solved due to FLOCK? Quite a bit!
Stop allowing, trash, who’ve only been in Washington recently, make the calls.
Tuesday, May 26 Report this
FrostedFlake
These AI Sensors will show up at Court to testify? Swear an oath? NO? Then what good are they? And will they drop what they are doing and come sirens wailing the next time the republicans attack the state capitol? No? Oh. And how do we fire AI? No? Oh. And what makes AI Constituional? 3rd amendment...
What? You didn't think about that? Why did I think of it so fast, then? Which of us is stupid?
Tuesday, May 26 Report this
DaveinOlyWA
GPodxt
Well, hope you aren't MAGA....
We HAD FLOCK but it was disabled in Dec due to ICE ILLEGALLY accessing the data in other WA cities and using it to track "suspected" illegal aliens. FYI; their track record varies from 5 to 30% accuracy...
Friday, July 10 Report this