The Florida Department of Transportation has installed a new traffic monitoring system to ease congestion in the city of Winter Haven.

The project includes installation of 12 miles of underground fibre optic lines and 15 closed-circuit cameras with 1.5 mile visibility to monitor 48 intersections, which have traffic signals.

The cameras can send images along the fibre optic lines to LED screens at a police station, which will be monitored by two technicians.

The system will also alert state officials if nobody is monitoring the screens, and in case any trouble arises, the technicians will alert emergency dispatchers, according to The Ledger

The technicians can change the timing of lights in the region when they see traffic backups, such as a longer green light for a road that is backed up but still movable.

The $4.1m project is being jointly funded by the city and the Florida Department of Transportation.