City of Richmond, VA

The City of Richmond, VA (City) is the center of a metropolitan area of over one million people. On a daily basis, the City’s roadways experience more than 100,000 commuters. As a result, the City’s arterial roadway network sees urban-level traffic congestion. The city’s prior system had been in service for almost 20 years, a lifetime in computer hardware and software technology, and was not able to provide the traffic management capabilities or expandability to keep up with the growing traffic management demands. The City selected Econolite Systems, Inc. (ESI) to install and implement an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), which included the Econolite Centracs ATMS. ESI was also tasked with integrating the City’s Traffic Control and Safety Enhancements Improvements Project. The ITS upgrades enabled the Transportation Engineering Division to make a quantum leap forward in their traffic management capabilities. Through contemporary traffic control and management tools, the new system allows the City’s Traffic Operations, ITS, and Traffic Signal staff to work more efficiently manage traffic operations and have a greater impact on the performance of Richmond’s arterial network.

ESI was responsible for furnishing and installing the central system hardware and software along with furnishing approximately 375 TS-2 Type 2 traffic signal controllers and 10 TS-2 traffic signal controller cabinets and accessories. The signal controllers and cabinets were installed later under a separate field installation contract. ESI was subsequently awarded this separate contract in partnership with Midasco, LLC (Hampton, VA)). In addition, ESI was responsible for providing integration services through the field construction phase, including local controller-level integration and communications system loop integration. ESI also developed the network design, which included a mixture of fiber, legacy twisted pair (converted to Ethernet), and wireless radio links, programmed and configured over 350 network switches, installed the switches, performed troubleshooting, and commissioned the system through acceptance testing. ESI is managing and maintaining the network throughout the project and subsequent warranty period.