A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a Surveillance Technology Impact Report (STIR)

SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY IMPACT REPORT Department: Public Works Division or Unit (if applicable): Submitted by: Kathy Watkins Date: 11/25/24 Surveillance Technology: Road Weather Information Station Cameras 1. Describe how the proposed Surveillance Technology will work, including how it will collect Surveillance Data. Public Works (DPW) currently uses two Road Weather Information System (RWIS) stations in Cambridge to monitor road conditions during the winter. The RWIS stations monitor precipitation, dew point, road pavement temperature and future weather forecasts to report on current road conditions and model future conditions. The purpose of the stations is to alert DPW to any current or future icing issues on the road surface and allow DPW to take proactive action to treat the roads. DPW would like to add a camera to each station to get a visual image of the current conditions at each station. Visual images would supplement the existing data and significantly improve planning for operations. For example, if the RWIS station was reporting snowy conditions, the camera would be used to verify that the sensors were reporting the road conditions accurately before sending out DPW staff to treat the road. This is a typical configuration for many of the RWIS stations used around the country. The cameras will take a picture every 10 minutes of the pavement below the RWIS sensors. These still images will be stored for three months on computer servers managed by the vendor, Vaisala. 2. What is the purpose of the Surveillance Technology? • Providing information to emergency personnel. • These cameras will help optimize DPW’s winter road treatment program, allowing for potentially quicker response to sudden icy road conditions and keeping the roads safe during the winter months. 3. Where will the Surveillance Technology be deployed? When?

The two RWIS stations are located on traffic light mast arms at 3rd Street and Binney and at Massachusetts Ave and Cedar Street. The cameras will be pointed straight down from the traffic light mast arm focusing on a narrow section of road pavement. The cameras will be deployed as soon as possible after the STIR is approved. 4. What privacy impact will the Surveillance Technology have? The cameras will collect static images of the pavement directly below the two traffic light masts where the weather stations are located. The cameras’ only purpose is to collect photos of pavement. Images of cars will also be collected as they pass under the cameras. But because of the angle of the camera, most of the images of the vehicles will only show the top of the vehicle. Access to the cameras is limited to a handful of people (< 5) at DPW involved in snow operations who have a username and password to the road weather monitoring system website. 5. What are the fiscal costs of the Surveillance Technology, including initial costs, ongoing maintenance and personnel costs, and source of funds? • Initial costs - $5,000 purchase from Vaisala, Inc. • Ongoing maintenance – Included in our maintenance for the existing stations. • Personnel costs – N/A. The amount of staff time dedicated to supporting the cameras is minimal. • Source of funds – Snow technology operating budget.