Traffic in Kirkland’s Totem Lake and Juanita neighborhoods is getting smarter with the installation of Kirkland’s Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).

Motorists may have noticed some disruption at Northeast 128th Street and 120th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 124th Street and 100th Avenue Northeast last week as the work transpired.

These are the final two intersections that will be upgraded as part of ITS Phase II, according to a City of Kirkland release. Contractors have now installed fiber optic cable at two dozen intersections in Totem Lake and last week, they put in the signal cabinets. This completes the signal upgrades and the project should be done by the end of June.

The release states that this work will enable transportation engineers to monitor traffic in real time. Twenty-five signals have been connected throughout Totem Lake and along 100th Avenue Northeast and later in the year when the work is complete, these signals will be ready to be adjusted remotely in real time for the City Hall-based traffic management center.

The new system will also allow commuters to monitor current traffic conditions in real-time on the King County Transportation webpage (some cameras are already available on this site).