As a follow up to the Lidar presentation and discussion held at the last Council meeting, I followed up with a call with Mr. Wilson, Director of Intelligent Infrastructure, to discuss a possible tri-party demonstration project with the Town of Purcellville, Loudoun County and VDOT. I proffered the idea of setting up a Lidar system at the intersection of Main and Maple at  no cost to the three jurisdictions to evaluate traffic flow, turning movements, pedestrian crossings and accidents and near misses. Mr. Wilson indicated they typically like to select one intersection for a demonstration project, and as this intersection is in the heart of our community, and includes a significant amount of ingress and egress for the two gas stations within this corridor, school crossings for students walking to Loudoun Valley High School, and a high level of turn movements both east and west on Main Street. Unfortunately, Mr. Wilson said that the minimum they could do a demonstration project for is $10,000. A no-cost demonstration project could possibly be done in calendar year 2023 or 2024. I indicated to Mr. Wilson that with a $10,000 local expenditure, procurement would be triggered, and this may be the case for both the County and State depending on their procurement guidelines.

Rather than approaching Town Council for this expenditure, I offered the opportunity to set up a virtual meeting with key personnel from the County and State to determine if they would be interested in participating in the demonstration project and assist the Town with financing this expenditure. Mr. Wilson was happy with the prospect, and indicated that he would outline a Scope of Services, which would include traffic sensor equipment and analysis. We agreed to continue the dialogue in mid August to outline the scope and logistics in an effort to coordinate a tri-party call with key personnel from VDOT and the County.