AZ - 100 speed cameras set for state highways

100 speed cameras set for state highways

Scottsdale-based Redflex awarded contract

258 comments by Samantha Hauser - Jul. 17, 2008 03:23 PM
The Arizona Republic
The Department of Public Safety plans to start a statewide photo enforcement program beginning Sept. 26.
The program will be expanded to 60 stationary speed cameras and 40 mobile units, according to DPS press release. Currently, DPS has only two mobile units.
The program's goal is to have 50 running by the end of September and all 100 cameras operating by January. Drivers will be cited for going 10 mph over the speed limit, the release said. http://gcirm.azcentral.gcion.com/Rea...ArticleFlex_1?
Stationary cameras will initially be installed in the Phoenix metro area, and will later be installed in Tucson and Flagstaff metro areas. The locations of the cameras will be determined by serious injury and fatal collision data from the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Stationary cameras are expected at major junctions such as the interchange of interstates 10 and 17, known as the “Stack,” and at the Interstate 10, Loop 202 and Arizona 51 interchange, known as the “Mini-stack.”
Cameras are also a priority on the eastbound lanes Interstate 10 west of the Phoenix area as well, the release said, because traffic from California causes a high collision rate because of congestion in the early morning hours.
Each highway patrol district will be assigned two to three mobile units.
The vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems, will be allotted about $20 million for the implementation of the program. About $4 million will be given to the State Supreme Court and about $2 million will be given to DPS. “This is the first program of its kind in the nation,” said Roger Vanderpool, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The contract provides for 100 cameras by the January deadline and 200 fixed and mobile cameras over a time frame still being determined, said Cristina Weekes, executive vice president of Redflex. The initial contract with DPS will run for two years and provides for three one-year extensions, she said.
Redflex will be hiring additional employees to support the program, both to staff the mobile vans and process violations, Weekes said. The company is headquartered in the Scottsdale Airpark but will complete a planned move to larger offices in Phoenix's Deer Valley airpark by mid-August, she said.
Jane Larson contributed to this article.