Surrey invests $2.7-million to ease traffic congestion

Surrey has invested $2.7-million ina new traffic management centre in an attempt to ease congestion in the city.

The new centre receives feeds from camerasat 175 key intersections in Surrey.

Surrey Transportation Manager Jaime Boan leads a team of a half a dozen city employees that will oversee the traffic control based on the live video feed.

When there's a crash, the teamcan pull up the live video on one of the televisions and adjust the traffic flow immediately, said Boan.

"That can allow us to have vehicles detour to different routes andadjust traffic signals to help the flow of traffic during those difficult periods," he said.

For example, if traffic is backed up at an intersection because of an accident and needs to divert, the centre can extend the left turn signal by 30 seconds to unclog that intersection faster.