Texas city rolls out new tech to help truckers avoid waiting at red lights

On Monday, the City of Arlington, Texas, announced the deployment of new technology to help reduce delays at traffic lights for commercial vehicle drivers.

On May 1, Arlington announced that it will implement the five year “Freight Optimization Services Program” to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to curb traffic delays for truck drivers.

As part of the project, technology will be deployed at around 100 traffic lights on roadways in Arlington designated as freight routes and in freight-oriented development areas.

“The technology works with our traffic management system to provide a few more seconds of green time to allow the heavy vehicle to pass through the intersection without stopping,” Public Works Director Keith Brooks said.

In addition to the extra green light time, “the technology deployment also includes information to the truck driver announcing the recommended travel speed to arrive at a traffic light on green that is currently red,” city officials said.

The “go live” date for the project is June 2023, with full system operation planned for June 2024.

Truck drivers will soon be able to download a mobile app that will provide information on when the traffic signal will change, as well as the recommended travel speed, to arrive at the traffic signal when it is ready to turn green.

Officials say that the technology will also be deployed at 500 traffic signals in multiple jurisdictions throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

The Freight Optimization Services Program is funded through a U.S. Department of Transportation grant.

Check out the video below to learn more, or click here to view the project website.