City of Talladega Blog

(Talladega, AL) On September 24, US Department of Transportation (DOT) leaders will be in Talladega to kick off a new pilot project designed to create safer streets for all, including those who are blind, visually impaired or deaf.

The event will be held at 1 p.m. outside Manning Hall, which is located at 205 East South Street on the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind campus. Guest speakers will include DOT Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and Chief Science Officer Dr. Robert Hampshire.

The city was awarded a $1,123,432 U.S. DOT Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grant to enable Talladega to install smart buttons, smart cameras, and emergency vehicle preemption units at more than 20 busy intersections throughout the city. 

This technology will allow the blind, visually impaired and deaf community to move freely and safely throughout the city by providing multiple forms of touchless detection and producing auditory signals to ensure that visually impaired individuals can cross streets safely. Smart cameras will identify pedestrians and automatically activate the crosswalk light to facilitate a visually impaired person crossing a busy intersection. Visual signals and vibrations will help convey information to the deaf. Data from the intersections will be analyzed to help make Talladega safer. 

“Given that Talladega is home to Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind, which serves blind, vision impaired and deaf children from elementary through high school and employs over a thousand blind and visually impaired people at Alabama Industries for the Blind, it is imperative that we update our traffic infrastructure,” said City Manager Derrick Swanson. “Feedback regarding the grant has been outstanding.  AIDB and other community partners are thrilled, and we are all thankful to the U.S. Department of Transportation for helping us to create a safer, more walkable city.”

The pilot project will prepare the city to compete for a multimillion dollar stage 2 SMART Grant.

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