Skip to main content

City of Sugar Land to implement wireless detection system

The City of Sugar Land, Texas, a growing suburb of Houston, has opted to use Trafficware’s state-of-the-art pod wireless detection system to implement detection upgrades along the city’s busiest roadways on US 90A and SH 6. With this contract the city will equip 18 of its largest multilane intersections with approximately 700 wireless pod sensors to provide the needed data collection capabilities for real-time performance measures of city arterials. Pods will gather data that can be used for analysis,
June 18, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The City of Sugar Land, Texas, a growing suburb of Houston, has opted to use 5642 Trafficware’s state-of-the-art pod wireless detection system to implement detection upgrades along the city’s busiest roadways on US 90A and SH 6.

With this contract the city will equip 18 of its largest multilane intersections with approximately 700 wireless pod sensors to provide the needed data collection capabilities for real-time performance measures of city arterials.  Pods will gather data that can be used for analysis, design, and growth trends and provide the infrastructure needed for an adaptive signal system.

Claimed to be one of the most advanced traffic management systems in the Houston area, the Sugar Land’s intelligent transportation system (ITS) utilises the city’s wireless and fibre network, allowing every traffic signal to send and receive data to the traffic management centre, increasing the efficiency and safety of its traffic infrastructure.

Over the last two years, the City’s Public Works Department tested alternatives to its current loop and video detection systems in an effort to build the foundation for a smarter and more reliable data driven ITS.  Wireless detection became the preferred option because its increased range and more robust communication allowed for a simplified system that did not need or use repeaters and improved environmental performance through standing water, such as during heavy rain that many parts of the country including Houston experienced recently, as well as around obstacles.

Related Content

  • April 8, 2014
    Opening the closed-loop to realise ITS benefits
    Jim Leslie, manager of ITS applications engineering at the Econolite Group looks at practical steps in transitioning from closed-loop masters to a centralised ATMS. Not many years ago the standard method of coordinating signalised intersections in local areas was to install an on-street master – each of which monitored and controlled a limited number of signal controllers or intersections as a closed-loop system. And, to a certain extent, each closed-loop system was autonomous from others deployed by the ag
  • December 9, 2014
    Wireless bridges widen options for ITS upgrades
    Antaira Technologies’ marketing engineer Brian Roth explains why the increasing capacity of wireless bridges is reducing the cost of expanding and upgrading ITS networks. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, the need for efficient transportation of both people and goods has never been greater and that pressure is unlikely to ease any time soon. Indeed in many regions of the world the rate of urbanisation is still increasing as the demand for rural workers continues to decline.
  • January 27, 2012
    Improving urban traffic control in Atlanta
    Hugh Colton, Georgia DOT details move to improve urban traffic control in the Atlanta area. With a significant proportion of traffic using freeways and toll-ways, along with a significant investment in roadway infrastructure, urban arterials are often the poor relation when it comes to ITS investment. Hitherto the primary means of Urban Traffic Control (UTC) has been the ubiquitous traffic signal. Many traffic signals still operate in a standalone mode and traffic detection is often broken, leaving the sign
  • February 1, 2012
    Cost-effective alternatives to traditional loops
    Traffic signal control is a mainstay of urban congestion management. Despite advances in vehicle detection sensors, inductive loops, which operate by using a magnetic field to detect the metal components in vehicles, are still the most common enabler for intelligent signalised junctions.