This train-detection application was built by the team from DevelopmentNow, a Portland development agency specializing in innovative software that solves problems.

Drivers in Portland, OR generally don’t use their horns. At Southeast 11th and Division, however, it regularly sounds like rush-hour gridlock in Manhattan when trains block traffic. This project was born from a desire to fix this problem—or at least help drivers circumnavigate it. Reducing traffic congestion lowers emissions, reduces noise, improves productivity, gives people time back in their day, and makes everyone a little happier.

The trains that run across Southeast 11th Avenue (or Milwaukie Avenue, depending who you ask) cause delays and traffic back-ups at 11th and Division. The people behind this application work in an office with a birds-eye view of all this, and we figured we could use our vantage point to everyone’s advantage.

We used AI/machine learning, vision processing, predictive heuristics, and off-the-shelf hardware to build a cloud-based prototype of this application. After a bit of tweaking and testing, the application tells us with reasonable accuracy whether a train is blocking the intersection outside our window. We hope you can use this application to avoid the two-hour traffic jams at Southeast 11th and Division, because, yes, those actually happen.