Arlington’s Traffic Management Project Aims to Reduce Congestion on SH 360 Frontage

By Office of Communication

Posted on October 10, 2017, October 10, 2017

The Public Works and Transportation Department continues to pave the way in the use of innovative, smart city technology to improve traffic management within the City of Arlington.

State Highway 360 is used by thousands of drivers daily to move through Arlington, but when an incident occurs that causes traffic delays, it can create frustration and increased pollution. Partnering with the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), the department is working to reduce both issues on the service roads of SH 360 between Brown Boulevard and Mayfield Road.

This collaborative, two-phase project allows the service roads to carry a larger volume of diverted highway traffic during incidents by increasing the amount of time traffic signals remain green for vehicles on the service road. The first phase of the project consisted of developing, reviewing, and programming incident signal timing plans. The plans were developed by an independent engineering firm for NCTCOG and approved by City engineers. City staff completed the work to program the incident timing patterns into the City's traffic signal system in August 2017.

Currently, city staff monitors traffic cameras to identify any patterns indicating the need to activate the incident timing plans. In November, the City will begin installing traffic monitoring devices at 23 locations. These devices will collect and analyze traffic data and automatically alert city staff of the potential need to activate the incident timing plan sooner. Reducing the amount of time between an incident and the activation of the incident signal timing patterns benefits drivers and the environment. The new monitoring devices are anticipated to be fully operational by the end of the year.

This $115,000 project to enhance the region's mobility and improve air quality is funded by a Federal Highway Administration Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant administered by the NCTCOG.