Smart Technology Initiatives

Smart cities use information and communication technologies to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare. 

Smart Water

Holly Springs is a part of a regional smart cities program that won a 2020 Smart Cities North America Award for its innovative use of technology in the smart water category. Sensors in flood prone creeks alert fire stations when water is close to flooding the road.  Public safety crews can then block off roadways before water creates a hazard for drivers.  These Green Stream Technologies sensors save time and money while increasing safety.

Smart Traffic Signals

Holly Springs is making fiber optic connections to traffic signals to improve traffic congestion. Purposes include synchronizing signals to react in real time to accidents and other traffic issues.

Traffic signals traditionally have been connected to NCDOT through radio waves.  This technology can be unreliable. DOT cannot know if there is an issue unless contacted by phone and cannot adjust signals remotely. To remedy this, the town offered to allow NCDOT to tap into the town's existing fiber network to synchronize signals for better traffic flow. The system should be up and running by 2021.  

The long-range plan for this Intelligent Transportation System initiative is to install cameras at intersections for monitoring (not enforcement) and manipulate traffic signals in real time to clear vehicles away from an accident.

Smart Transportation

Holly Springs is on the cutting edge of smart transportation technology by being part of the first wave of communities supporting drone delivery services.

Flytrex, the Israeli start-up responsible for launching the world’s first autonomous urban drone delivery system in Reykjavik, Iceland, is operating in Holly Springs in partnership with Causey Aviation, the program operator, as well as NCDOT and the Town of Holly Springs. Service includes takeout delivery from Holly Springs Towne Center to a delivery location at Ting Park, across the park road from the tennis courts.

Holly Springs and Flytrex are part of a broad-ranging, multi-year national program to safely test innovative uses of drones. They are working with the N.C. Department of Transportation, which heads a team of industry and government partners.