City of Lincoln installs cameras downtown in first step of effort to improve traffic flow

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The City of Lincoln launched a project on Wednesday that aims to improve traffic flow and parking downtown.

Three cameras were installed along O Street as part of the Downtown Corridors Pilot Project, and workers will add more in the coming days.

The city is studying how people get around downtown.

“We’re trying to understand how the businesses, how the pedestrians, how the community is using O Street and how we can get smarter about how we need to design it for that use,” said Peter Hind, Lincoln’s director of urban development.

For example, Hind said, the city might look for delivery trucks taking up a lane of traffic while they unload.

Officials are aiming to make the area safer and more vibrant — and to encourage people to come downtown.

Businesses like that idea because they say traffic and parking downtown can discourage potential customers.

“We want it to be easier for them to get here; we want it to be easier for them to stay here,” said Torry Nielsen, manager of Birria Boss. “So more parking and anything we can do to improve this space, as long as it is an improvement, would obviously be great for businesses.”

The cameras will be up for three months, then the city will use the information to decide what changes to make.

Officials emphasized that they aren’t collecting data that identifies you or your vehicle.

“There’s nothing that goes to the cloud; it’s contained within each camera,” Hind said. “And it doesn’t measure who the person is or their license plate. It just measures a personal car; it even can measure a gas car versus an electric car.”