Officials with the City of Edmonton said a new system that will recommend a speed for drivers, instead of a set speed limit, will be tested on the Whitemud for the next month.

City of Edmonton officials said starting on August 11, an Advisory Driving Speed system will be tested on Whitemud Drive, westbound, between 111 and 159 Streets.

During the four-week pilot project, digital signs will inform drivers of the recommended speed - which would be lower than the set speed limit - that drivers should travel to avoid traffic jams and sudden stops.

“This project is not about telling people to slow down, people have to slow down in congested traffic anyways,” Wai Cheung with the City of Edmonton said.

“They can choose to follow it or ignore it, our hope is that they follow it so we can optimize traffic flow.”

During the pilot program, the recommended driving speed will be calculated using traffic volume and speed data gathered by sensors buried under the roadway and ramps.

That information is processed using an algorithm developed at the U of A Centre for Smart Transportation, which is partnering with the City. The recommended speed is then calculated and posted on the digital signs that are controlled by the City’s Traffic Management Centre.

The maximum speed limit in Whitemud Drive is 80 kilometres per hour.

The particular section of roadway was chosen due to congestion issues that occur during peak periods – often, traffic congestion happens when a single vehicle slowing or stopping to allow another vehicle to merge, which forces the vehicles behind them to slow or stop.

Between 2010 and 2014, there were 334 collisions on the same section of Whitemud Drive, 677 vehicles were involved in those collisions, which resulted in 44 injuries.

Similar technology has been used in France, Sweden and the United States – once the pilot project is wrapped up the City will review results and look at the potential of using it as a permanent solution.

For this pilot project, the City said $7,000 will be spent on advertising to inform drivers - $120,000 has been spent at the U of A to come up with the algorithm. If the pilot works, it could be extended to the rest of the Whitemud.

With files from Joshua Skurnik