A simple way to avoid red lights during busy times in Utah’s largest city could be following a bus.
Transportation experts have been working over the past few years to improve a system where radios in commuter buses communicate directly with traffic signals in the Salt Lake City area. When a bus approaches, it requests a few extra seconds of green light to help it along its route.
These “smart streets” are already showing smoother traffic flow, but this is just the beginning of the high-tech improvements that may soon expand across Utah and eventually throughout the United States.
With the help of a $20 million federal grant and the ambitious goal to “Connect the West,” officials aim to create a system where all vehicles in Utah, as well as in neighboring Colorado and Wyoming, can talk to each other and to roadside infrastructure. This communication would cover everything from traffic jams to accidents, road hazards, and weather updates.
This way, drivers can quickly learn when it’s best to take a different route, eliminating the need for manual alerts from traffic signs or mapping apps on their phones.
“Cars can provide us with a lot of information about what’s happening on the road,” said Blaine Leonard, a transportation technology engineer at the Utah Department of Transportation. “For example, if a car brakes suddenly or if its windshield wipers are active or if the wheels are skidding, that data is sent to us anonymously about ten times each second, offering a continuous flow of information.”
This exchange of real-time data between vehicles and various sensors installed along the roads is known as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology. Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation released a national plan to guide local and state governments, as well as private companies, on deploying various V2X projects, ensuring everyone is aligned in their efforts.
The main aim of this initiative is clear: to significantly reduce roadway deaths and severe injuries, which have recently reached alarming levels.
A 2016 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that V2X technology could make a difference. By implementing just two of the earliest V2X applications across the country, we could prevent between 439,000 and 615,000 crashes, saving between 987 and 1,366 lives, according to their research.
Dan Langenkamp has been advocating for road safety improvements since a tragic accident took the life of his wife, Sarah Langenkamp, a U.S. diplomat who was killed by a truck while biking in Maryland in 2022. At the announcement of the V2X blueprint, Langenkamp called on the U.S. government to quickly and widely implement this technology.
“As government officials, manufacturers, and simply as citizens, how can we not accelerate the development of this technology, knowing we can save lives and avert disasters on our roads?” he urged.
Some public concerns have surfaced around privacy issues. Although the V2X rollout plan promises to protect personal data, many privacy advocates remain cautious.
Critics argue that while the system may not track specific vehicles directly, it can gather enough distinctive data—like tire pressure readings—that could help determine who is driving and where they are headed.
“When you gather enough unique details, you could fairly deduce that a particular car driving down this street at a specific time, weighing a certain amount, likely belongs to the mayor,” said Cliff Braun, associate director of technology, policy, and research at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that advocates for digital privacy.
The federal blueprint indicates that the top 75 metropolitan areas in the U.S. should aim for at least 25% of their traffic signals to be equipped with this technology by 2028, with further goals in subsequent years. The Salt Lake City area has already surpassed the 20% mark thanks to its proactive measures.
However, upgrading traffic signals is just part of the challenge. The most valuable data comes from vehicles themselves. While many new cars come with connected technology, they don’t all function in the same way.
Before launching the “Connect the West” initiative, Utah officials tested what they believe to be the nation’s first radio-based connected vehicle technology using data only from fleet vehicles like buses and snow plows. In one of their early projects, they enhanced a bus route on a heavy traffic stretch of Redwood Road, showing benefits not just for bus passengers but also for other drivers.
“Whatever they’re doing seems to be effective,” said Jenny Duenas, the assistant director at Panda Child Care, which cares for 80 children aged 6 weeks to 12 years. “Traffic has eased up significantly. It’s easier to take our kids out when the roads are clear.”
Casey Brock, bus communications supervisor for the Utah Transit Authority, explained that while many changes might be subtle to drivers, reducing a bus’s travel time by even a few seconds can make a big difference in alleviating congestion and enhancing safety.
“From a commuter’s perspective, it might just feel like a smooth traffic day,” said Brock. “It’s not necessary for them to understand all the technical details happening behind the scenes.”
This summer, Michigan opened a 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) connected vehicle corridor on Interstate 94, designed to help drivers anticipate traffic slowdowns with notifications about debris or stalled vehicles.
A similar smart freight corridor is under development around Austin, Texas, aimed at keeping truck drivers informed about road conditions and adapting to self-driving technology in the future.
Darran Anderson, the director of strategy and innovation at the Texas Department of Transportation, expressed hope that this technology could not only strengthen the state’s massive freight industry but also help combat a troubling trend of road fatalities that has persisted for over two decades. The last day without a road fatality in Texas was November 7, 2000.
Cavnue, a subsidiary of Alphabet’s Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners based in Washington, D.C., funded the Michigan project and is also developing the Texas corridor. The company aims to become a leader in smart road technology.
Chris Armstrong, Cavnue’s vice president of product, refers to V2X as “a digital seatbelt for vehicles” but emphasizes that it can only be effective if cars and roadside systems can communicate with each other seamlessly.
“Instead of everyone speaking different languages, our ambition is to have everyone on the same page, ideally communicating in a universal language,” he remarked.
