The City of Knoxville has begun a new project to inventory the location and condition of street signs and guardrails within City limits. A van equipped with high-precision instruments that specialize in data collection began roaming several streets in South Knoxville this month as a trial run before the citywide effort begins in March.

“It’s a similar concept to the Google car, except it’s a version on steroids,” said Jim Hagerman, Director of Engineering. “This project will help us to determine the exact condition of our traffic assets and create an inventory map of all that we have.”

This data will give the City a geo-referenced inventory of signs and other traffic communication components and will improve efficiency as City officials look to improve the traffic system.

The City contracted with Data Transfer Solutions, LLC (DTS), a nationwide firm based in Orlando, Fla. DTS provides professional asset management and mobile data collection services to local and state government agencies. Their vans feature forward-facing digital cameras. Imagery generated by these cameras will be used to inventory and evaluate the condition of traffic-control signs, such as speed limit and stop signs and guardrails.

The imagery will be used only to create a digital video inventory of these traffic assets within public right of way. No private property will be documented for this project.

In order to ensure the highest quality of data and imagery, the vehicles will collect data during daylight hours only and will cover all roads and public right of ways within the City limits.

For any questions regarding this project, please call Zachary Roberts with City of Knoxville Engineering at 865-215-6714 or call 311.