A $16 million network of sensors and cameras on the new Cooper River bridge should help traffic flow and improve emergency response time, say South Carolina transportation officials.

Crews have begun laying fiber-optic cables from the system's headquarters near Interstate 26 in North Charleston to the construction site for the $640 million bridge connecting downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant on I-526. The 1,200 miles of fiber-optic cable must be in place by the time the concrete is poured for the bridge's roadway sometime around the summer of 2005.
The bridge's Intelligent Transport system will be able to count how many vehicles are traveling on the bridge and keep track of the weather, officials say. Included in the system are several overhead message signs that will alert drivers to weather and traffic conditions on the bridge.
The bridge will have 12 high-resolution cameras so every portion of the roadway can be viewed. That will help local police and emergency officials determine how many officers or paramedics need to be sent to an accident.
The bridge will have 14 radar sensors that can measure how many vehicles are on the bridge, their average speed and the size of vehicles in each lane. If average speeds drop, officials can look for an accident. Also, if the sensors detect too many container trucks on the bridge, the information on the variable message signs could change to encourage trucks heading to or from the port to use Interstate 526.
Weather stations on the new bridge and a bridge on I-526 will collect information on rain, fog, humidity, wind speed and wind direction. With the new bridge topping out at 200 feet above the water, strong winds would force transportation officials to close the span. Also, the height of the bridge could cause it to freeze faster, officials said.
And in a nod to homeland security, two surveillance cameras will be attached underneath the bridge, pointing toward the base of the bridge's two diamond-shaped towers. The cameras will record ship traffic, and an alarm will sound if a boat gets too close to the towers.