Light Rail Transit Signal Priority (TSP) Detection Upgrades, Intersection Equipment Installation Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), Santa Clara County, CA

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is a special district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, CA. As the public transit service provider for Santa Clara County, including 15 cities, the VTA serves a county with a population of 1.8 million, an area over 340 square miles, an annual transit ridership of over 35 million, over 1,200 round trip miles for its bus services, and 82 track miles for its light rail services.

VTA has three light rail lines that use an existing Transit Signal Priority (TSP) system in active operations and are adding a fourth. The TSP for the light rail lines is based on embedded detection in the exclusive right-of-way to trigger service calls for TSP. TSP was operational on 97 signalized intersections within the cities of Milpitas, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale, and the County of Santa Clara on light rail lines with nearly 100 light rail vehicles. With faster, sustainable, and reliable transit being an ongoing strategic goal for both VTA and its customers, in 2023, VTA sought to efficiently expand the use of TSP within Santa Clara County in a timely and cost-effective manner.

In 2024, the VTA contracted with Econolite Systems, Inc. for the installation of new traffic signal equipment to detect TSP calls for service at at-grade light rail intersections (non-gated) along four strategic and heavily traveled corridors: Tasman Drive (north corridor); East San Carlos (south corridor); North Capital Avenue (east corridor); and North 1^st Street (west corridor). As part of the project, Econolite’s experienced Field Services team is responsible for the installation of the following at each designated project location:

1. Pole mounted antennas
2. Cable in existing conduits
3. Lightning suppression units
4. Cable grounding kits
5. Wiring of shelf mount units
6. Wiring of relay switches

Econolite is also in coordination with the Cities of San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and Milpitas, as well as the County of Santa Clara and Caltrans for the installation of the new intersection equipment along the four corridors. As part of the VTA’s TSP detection upgrade project, the new equipment will also provide wireless light rail vehicle detection that can be used by other local agencies for Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP).