A TECH firm transforming towns and cities into smarter and more efficient places to live and work has teamed up with Dudley Council to help cut road congestion, boost active travel initiatives and improve traffic flow in the borough.

The council has partnered with VivaCity, installing its sensors to capture high-accuracy data on vehicle and active travel flows to enable the authority to identify and address the causes of congestion.

A network of 65 VivaCity AI sensors have been located across Brierley Hill and Merry Hill Shopping Centre to capture demand and journey time data to analyse congestion.

As a result the council has made a data driven decision to deploy VivaCity’s Smart Junction solution to the congested Venture Way and Mill Street junction.

Sensors at the junction recorded the highest volumes of cyclists and pedestrians compared to other junctions in the area, highlighting an opportunity for multimodal prioritisation between different road users.

The junction is often saturated with a high volume of cars during the day, so schoolchildren crossing the main road will benefit from the AI based sensors as the council will be able to optimise signalling during busy periods.

Dean Hubbard, project engineer for Dudley Council, said: “VivaCity’s sensors have been incredibly beneficial to the work we are trying to accomplish in the Dudley area.

“We understand how frustrating traffic congestion and journey disruptions can be for local residents and visitors, and we hope our work helps minimise this throughout the region.

“At a time when we are trying to further develop and revamp the area, VivaCity’s data is crucial in helping optimise travel and safety for all.”

Mark Nicholson, CEO and co-founder at VivaCity, added: “We’re excited to work with Dudley on diagnosing the root causes of congestion, using our sensor data combined with their local knowledge.

“We have been able to target a specific junction in the area, in which we will now implement our Smart Junction solution to help solve further issues.”