Watching over us: Hundreds of freeway cameras monitor valley roads

Ken Hutchens, a senior traffic engineering technician at the Freeway & Arterial System of Transportation (FAST) works inside their headquarters in Las Vegas on Thursday, June 6, 2013.

FAST

Video screens show live camera shots from around the Valley road systems at the Freeway & Arterial System of Transportation (FAST) headquarters in Las Vegas on Thursday, June 6, 2013. Launch slideshow »

It’s FAST.

And it’s designed to help motorists go faster.

FAST, the Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation, is the nerve center of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada’s traffic monitoring system.

Thirty-five employees share space with the Nevada Highway Patrol and Nevada Transportation Department to manage the valley's streets and highways. Workers adjust traffic signal wait times to move cars more efficiently and notify motorists of travel times on local freeways.

Traffic is monitored from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends, with staggered shifts that maximize manpower during rush hour and traffic-generating events.

•••

FAST, by the numbers

• 1,300: number of traffic signals controlled by FAST

• 400: number of freeway cameras

• 400: number of radar traffic detectors

• 100: number of dynamic message signs

• 81: number of LED panels per sign

• 70: number of ramp meters

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