(Photo by Paul Atkinson - KJZZ)

Traffic on Loop 101.

Local traffic agencies are banding together to help make driving on Loop 101 more bearable.

Six million dollars in federal funds will go to a project that will help predict traffic patterns and special-event backups faster than before around Loop 101.

Maricopa County and Arizona Departments of Transportation are leading the work, which will include creating an app to tell drivers the best route to take.

MCDOT Director Jennifer Toth said building more and more freeways is not a sustainable solution to keep traffic flowing.

“It’s really time for us to think beyond the freeways and about the transportation system as a whole because we can’t continue to build ourselves out of congestion,” she said.

Toth hopes the project will push 101 traffic to surface streets, if that route is faster. The project won’t be finished until around 2020.

The grant will upgrade technology around the freeway to help move cars safer, too. That will look like smarter traffic signal management and real-time data updates.

Toth said as cars get smarter, so do the streets.

“The technology that we will be using is becoming more and more important as we move toward the future of connected and autonomous vehicles.”

Toth said companies are already testing self-driving cars in the areas around Loop 101.