The Legislature granted Minneapolis permission to set up cameras to catch speeders, and one thing is certain: The pilot lasting four years will begin as soon as August.
Beyond that, there are “lots of details to work through” before automated traffic enforcement comes to the state’s largest city, said Ethan Fawley, coordinator of the city’s Vision Zero program, which has a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2027.
Along with putting out a request for vendors to run the system — “we can’t do this work in-house,” Fawley said — current tasks include publicizing the program, collecting feedback and addressing citizens' questions and concerns.
“We know we need to improve safety with this pilot,” Fawley said. “We want to build trust with the community.”
Dialog will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Minneapolis Central Library and online at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Fawley said the pilot is necessary because “speeding is the No. 1 safety challenge in Minneapolis.” Last year, speeding was cited as a factor in 11 of the city’s 14 fatal crashes. The cameras are coming because “people say we need to do something.”
The pilot running through 2029 will begin with five cameras and could potentially expand to a network of 42. Where they will be stationed has yet to be decided, but guidelines provide some clues. Cameras must be within 2,000 feet of a school, spread throughout the city and placed on streets identified as having a “traffic safety concern,” city documents state.
Fawley said the city has looked at crash data for every intersection in the city over the past five years and identified 51 possible sites for cameras. The cameras will go only on city streets, not county roads like Lyndale Avenue or state roads like University Avenue that pass through Minneapolis.
