The city of Los Angeles is stepping into the future this year with the installation of “smart” road studs that gauge road conditions and traffic flow and open and close a freeway lane accordingly.

If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic on the highway and found yourself cursing the heavens for an extra lane to get things moving, than this “dynamic-lane” system, that will be built on the 110 Freeway where traffic backs up in a tunnel at the single-lane connector to northbound Interstate 5, in LA will do just the trick.

Caltrans has contracted with a New Zealand company to pilot the studs, which have embedded sensors that can transmit information to a control center. The sensors use a frequency that’s also employed widely by aircraft monitoring systems. The control center then relays the information to electronic roadway signs, alerting drivers to lane changes and other adjustments due to traffic flow, road conditions and weather.

The Caltrans project requires about 650 of the lights to be mounted close together in twin lines. The markers will lie close together in between the Number 1 (Left Exit) and Number 2 lanes in the Figueroa St. tunnels of the N. Pasadena freeway. The result produced is an unbroken lane separator that indicates through traffic only for the Number 2 lane; when the lights are turned off, this line disappears, offering the choice of using the I-5 connector or continuing onto Pasadena. The most impressive feature of these pavement markers is the lighted message signs that indicate the availability of this second lane for exiting.

Sheik Moinuddin, a senior traffic engineer at Caltrans, told the LA Times that the dynamic-lane project is the first of its kind in the city of Los Angeles, and that he’s optimistic it will reduce traffic jams and collisions.

While similar studs were installed in Santa Monica’s McClure Tunnel in 2003, they were only there to illuminate the freeway’s center divider, not for dynamic lane changes. In fact, the Santa Monica project didn’t cost $3.2 million, which the Smart Studs do despite a couple of delays. A Caltrans engineer said that the project is on target to launch in November and, if successful, could be installed at other LA County junctions.

Tim Crabtree, chief executive of SmartStud, said that a recent project in Germany’s 5-mile Rennsteig Tunnel required 20 miles of the lights in four lines. Because the studs are sunk at a minimum of four inches and are easier to install and replace than traditional light studs, Crabtree said it’s possible to install about two-thirds of a mile in one night shift. And because the junction of the 110 Freeway and Interstate 5 is a historical tunnel with a reservoir on one side and a cliff on the other, the fewer structural changes the better.

The science behind the technology involves inductive power transfer—converting magnetic energy into electrical energy that allows the studs to function independently from a fixed cable system. Energy is delivered by a central cable that emits a magnetic field, so the studs do not need to be fixed by electrical wire to harness electricity. The idea is based off a roadway-based system that can charge a vehicle’s battery as it moves along, or a system of road lights that respond directly to a vehicle’s speed.

Besides being so futuristic, and being an intense psychotropic mind trip for potheads on a burn-ride, a few skeptics have begun asking, “Why not just permanently open the second lane?”

Caltrans employees stress that because cars need to slow down before driving on the curved connector—and a little bit of congestion, though annoying, actually serves that purpose.