Around the mall area, there's a lot of loops in the road going bad. Wire loops are sensitive to metal, not weight, as is commonly believed. Roll the old Chevy over the loop, which is embedded an inch deep in the roadway, and the car's metal triggers an electrical impulse. The loop then sends a signal to the stoplight that, hey, there's a lineup at the intersection, switch to green. Unlike a wire, a camera and computer combination can count the number of cars waiting at an intersection and adjust the length of the green light accordingly.
Traffic flows smoother.
Within two years, the city hopes to install video cameras at every major intersection. With 150 cameras, Lynnwood currently has more than any other city in the state, Adams said. The cost for the new camera system is roughly the same as for the old. Adams watches the video images from his office at Lynnwood City Hall. The north wall of his office is covered in monitors.