Ten new surveillance cameras have been set up at major intersections throughout Encinitas to help with traffic flow and improve public safety.
The new cameras, part of a fiber optic infrastructure project that was approved back in 2012, have been set up at busy intersections along El Camino Real, Encinitas Boulevard, Luecadia Boulevard, Coast Highway 101 and Vulcan Avenue.
The Coast News Group says that the new cameras will tie into a network of seven existing street cameras that relays data back to the city’s traffic operations center.
There, a traffic engineering specialists will scan a wall of video monitors, checking the feeds and traffic conditions. At the touch of a button, the engineers will be able to change street lights to help with traffic flow and alert police and first responders when there are accidents and emergencies.
Kirk Bell owns Detour, a hair salon on the corner of E Street and Coast Highway 101, and he says that traffic is a major problem along the highway.
”I’ve seen [Encinitas] go from a small beach town to a very populated, very busy downtown community,” said Bell. “We do hear and see a lot of accidents, serious accidents.”
Bell said he’s seen cyclist physically strike vehicles on the road out of frustration, so, understandably, he thinks the cameras are a good idea.
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“It’s the world we live in...It’s 2016.”
The city hopes to have the cameras fully operational by the end of January.
