Council moves closer to AI traffic management upgrade
By Catherine Strohfeldt
Brisbane traffic could be set to meet its match with AI programming, as the council launches an expressions of interest process next week.
The Brisbane City Council’s traffic management system upgrade would leverage AI processing to control red lights, reroute vehicles during heavy traffic, or after accidents, and plan detours during events or road closures.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said similar systems across the globe had incorporated AI into management systems to improve traffic flow.
“Brisbane traffic drops by an average of just six per cent during school holidays, so smarter technology has enormous potential to help ease congestion right across our city every day,” he said.
The program will open expressions of interests from Friday, June 6, with council having held an industry briefing in November last year (Brisbane Times, 2025).
I’m just hoping it will allow for bus priority, as well as active transport priority at intersections peak and off peak.
Waiting 2-3 mins for the cycle to change even off peak is ridiculous. In addition the busses that need to wait to enter Bowen Bridge Road from the Northern Busway Ramp. Another choke point is the Valley Island bus no priority lane that enters back onto Ann street at All Hallows. What a disaster! (Bus no priority to the max)
This is going to be an excellent, absolutely flawless way to manage traffic. I absolutely see no way that the AI will somehow hallucinate and result in absolute traffic carnage across the city whatsoever…
i just hope this will mean the traffic lights are smarter, and hopefully delate minimum green light time, its really stupid, from both PT view and as a driver. also crossings where its been green for the cars the past hour but the lights force me to wait like 3 minutes are dumb
A big example of this is the pedestrian crossing at Sandgate Rd near North Boondall station. The light for Sandgate Road remain green for quite a while, even if the next few cars are very far away and pose no risk to pedestrians if they were to cross at that moment.
Most users end up resorting to jaywalking on at the pedestrian crossing; the waiting times for pedestrians are ridiculous.
I do wonder if AI is even any use here, or if this could have been done with regular code and all AI did was act as a buzzword to force someone to cough up the cash
Let’s get a list of priority intersections for Council
My first one is busway ramp exit onto Bridge Road and Bridge Road and Gregory Tce. The light phases could work much faster here as well as change immediately when there is no traffic on Bridge Road.
AI can also mean a nueral network which adapts and learns from past inputs. It doesn’t have to be a Large Language Model like ChatGPT, nor would it be.
Nueral networks have been around for a long time. There’s nothing new or fancy about them.
This whole concept is an absolutely ridiculous stalling tactic that gives the Council an “initiative” to put on its transport websites.
What “AI” will give Council is a shield from accountability when their system magically decides cars should get priority over all other modes, and the objective of the whole system is “traffic flow” (more and faster cars).
Are they going to install cameras on every intersection to monitor traffic? Doubtful. Are they going to disclose the inputs for the “AI”? No. Are they going to oblige the private “AI” company to explain how the system reaches its conclusions? No, because it’ll be “commercial in confidence”.
I encourage everyone to bookmark this thread and check back in 3-5 years when this farcical idea is “implemented”
This is the only noteworthy bit of the whole exercise.. if vehicle numbers dropping 6% produces the usual dramatic improvement in travel experience, isn’t it worth considering how we could shave 6% off those numbers at other times rather than using vibes to magic them into moving faster?
Trying to solve a geometric problem with technology. It will only manage what we have a little better, but ultimately if you want fewer cars on the road, you’ll need more people on the footpath or in the bike lane.
Cycling to schools used to be very popular in decades past. They really lost mode share on this one and its not entirely clear to me why.
In Slovenia, Lab of Thought teamed up with RTV Slovenija to flip the script on traffic updates.
Instead of focusing on cars, they shared updates for walkers, cyclists, and public transport users—like: “Parents walking to school: an SUV is blocking the sidewalk again. Expect a dangerous detour. Proceed with caution.”
Why not bring this to Brisbane?
On September 22 (or another date), let’s partner with 4ZZZ or another local station to create traffic updates for people. Imagine:
Listeners texting in obstacles they face (blocked footpaths, unsafe crossings, potholes).
Announcers breaking into commentary with live updates for walkers, cyclists, and bus riders.
A fun, engaging way to highlight the need for better transport infrastructure.
Know an announcer at 4ZZZ or another Brisbane station? Or are you passionate about making this happen? Let’s connect and make Brisbane’s streets work for everyone!
Know an announcer at 4ZZZ or another Brisbane station? Or are you passionate about making this happen? Let’s connect and make Brisbane’s streets work for everyone!