An expansion project is underway on a road traffic signal system in the US city of Washington.

The expansion project, worth about $325,000, will have about 40 cameras linked to traffic signals on Washington Road from Old Evans to Pleasant Home roads.

The motion-sensitive cameras will capture real-time images, and will be linked to a computer network, and the traffic signals will work as a unit to ensure efficient traffic flow.

The Emergency Operations Centre will receive the images from intersections to monitor traffic conditions, though the signals won’t be used to catch speeders and will not be utilised to issue citations to traffic violators.

Camera installations are already underway, and the expanded network is set to be ready by March 2011.

The traffic lights already on the network include those on Washington Road and on North Belair Road, which were found efficient in monitoring traffic conditions during January month’s snowstorm.