TYLER, Texas — The city of Tyler is moving forward into its second year of retiming traffic signals to reduce delays and improve travel times.
The Tyler City Council on Wednesday approved a $114,085 engineering contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. for the Intelligent Transportation System Master Plan Year 2 – Traffic Signal Retiming Improvements.
This contract includes the retiming of 19 signalized intersections, and it will build upon corridors that were retimed in 2019 and 2021. This will focus on areas that have seen less reliable travel times.
Within one year of the master plan, 18 intersections were retimed. A study showed the retiming will result in delay savings of about 231,000 vehicle hours per year (or 26 years of vehicle delay annually). This equates to more than $7 million annually in driver delay savings, according to the city of Tyler.
Tasks a part of the plan include project management, data collection, development of timing plans, implementation and a final report.
“This emphasizes the benefits of re-timing traffic signals on a regular basis,” said traffic engineer Cameron Williams. “Coordinated signal timing is often the most cost-effective method to maximize operation efficiency on a corridor. It maximizes the existing capacity of a corridor and moves vehicles through, increasing travel-time reliability and throughput while decreasing stops, delay, emissions and other costs associated with traffic delays.”
In 2019, the city council approved an engineering contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. to provide a year-long study of the city's traffic signal system. A plan called for retiming about 15 intersections annually for the first six years of the plan and 30 intersections per year for the next four years.
This project is funded using the Half-Cent Sales Tax Program.
A list of the intersections is provided below:
- Broadway Avenue and Old Troup Highway
- Broadway Avenue and Eighth Street
- Broadway Avenue and Fifth Street
- Broadway Avenue and Fourth Street
- Broadway Avenue and Dobbs Street
- Broadway Avenue and Houston Street
- Broadway Avenue and Front Street
- Front Street and Fannin Street
- Front Street and Bonner Avenue
- Front Street and Vine Avenue
- Front Street and Palace Avenue
- Front Street and Glenwood Boulevard
- Houston Street and Fannin Avenue
- Fourth Street and South Chilton Avenue
- Fourth Street and South College Avenue
- Fourth Street and South Donnybrook Avenue
- Fifth Street and South Chilton Avenue
- Fifth Street and South College Avenue
- Fifth Street and South Donnybrook Avenue
