Plano approves $8.5 million traffic-signal detection upgrade at 284 intersections

Drivers crawling through Plano’s busiest corridors may see the biggest change in the seconds they spend sitting at a red light. City Council approved $8.5 million for new vehicle detection systems at 284 intersections, a move officials say should help signals react more accurately to real traffic and trim unnecessary delay.

The upgrade is designed to detect when vehicles are stopped and waiting at intersections, giving the city a better read on what is happening on the street instead of relying on older equipment. Plano officials said the new system will help engineering and police monitor real-time traffic conditions, construction impacts and emergency conditions, with coverage from all four sides of each upgraded intersection. The city also expects to collect vehicle and pedestrian counts, traffic-signal performance data and other information that can be used to adjust timing and coordinate signals across the network.

Installation is expected to begin this summer and take about 15 months, which means drivers could see work at intersections well into next year. For commuters along Plano’s heavily traveled roads, the practical payoff would be fewer frustrating waits, better signal timing and more reliable flow through busy corridors. City officials framed the project as a citywide modernization effort, not a single-road fix, reflecting how much of Plano’s congestion problem now depends on how well traffic hardware and software work together.

The money will come from the city’s Street Improvement Community Investment Program, which is largely backed by a 2021 bond. That funding stream has already been tied to traffic improvements that include computerized signal system upgrades, video cameras at critical intersections and wireless links to the Traffic Management Center. Plano’s own traffic and transportation materials say the engineering department manages traffic signals, street design standards, traffic control plans and road construction updates, while the police department focuses on traffic safety and the movement of traffic throughout the city.

The city’s Traffic Management Center is supposed to be the nerve center for that system. Regional transportation materials from the North Central Texas Council of Governments describe it as responsible for real-time congestion and incident management, with field devices that include traffic signals, portable systems, detection equipment and CCTV cameras. Plano also expanded its camera network in 2023 through a grant agreement that added more cameras at signalized intersections, showing the city has been building toward this kind of monitoring for years.

The project appears to be a slightly revised version of an earlier procurement, which described 278 signalized intersections controlled by 242 cabinet locations and put the estimate at about $10.84 million. The final council-approved scope is larger at 284 intersections, and the lower price suggests the city refined the plan before giving it the green light. For Plano, the test now is simple: whether the new system just updates old hardware, or actually makes the city’s traffic network feel less clogged and more responsive on the ground.