Streetlights with LED lighting and internet capabilities that allow officials to turn up or turn down the light’s brightness.
Monitored parking areas that send information to an app that lets people know where open spots are.
Autonomous vehicles that can sense their environment and travel with little to no human interaction.
All of this may sound like science fiction, but it could soon become a reality in Rome.
“Sounds impressive, and it is,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said in his State of the County Address. “To put it in layman’s terms, it’s a wired-for-internet city within a city, that allows community Wi-Fi, smart street lighting and a connected experience that will make cars with no drivers and drone delivery possible right here in Oneida County.”
The city within a city Picente is referring to is the area around the Floyd Avenue corridor, the former Wright Park Manor and Woodhaven sites, Griffiss Business and Technology Park and Air City.
The plan is to use Smart City infrastructure, composed of fiber and smart streetlights, to offer ubiquitous connectivity – physical and wireless – between homes, businesses, educational institutions, public safety, community services and modern vehicles.
“It opens up a whole new world of possibilities,” Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo said of the technology.
Rome is working with the New York Power Authority to install smart light LED streetlights with nodes that allow for wireless communication with sensors, mobile devices and vehicles.
In May 2020, the Common Council authorized the bonding of approximately $3.4 million to cover the replacement of the city’s streetlights. The bonding is the next step in replacing more than 3,000 streetlights with new LED fixtures.
The city would also receive a $225,000 matching Smart City grant and an estimated $224,000 in rebates that are not included in the bonding amount, Izzo previously said.
National Grid will keep ownership of the poles.
Izzo said an optimal plan to install the new lighting is in the works.
Rome is working with the county and Mohawk Valley EDGE to make the Smart City a reality.
“As we work with Oneida County, and the City of Rome to reconstruct infrastructure, introduce housing, and develop commercial sites along the Floyd Ave. corridor, we continue to think long-term,” said Steven J. DiMeo, a representative of Griffiss Local Development Corporation and president of Mohawk Valley EDGE, in an emailed statement. “Griffiss Park is the crucible of cutting-edge technology – particularly in the realms of cyber and autonomous systems. Oneida County’s investments in the FAA UAS Test Site and MVCC (Mohawk Valley Community College), coupled with the city’s investment in mixed-use development and infrastructure, make the Floyd Ave corridor fertile ground for deploying these technologies.”
© 2021 Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
