{"id":161925,"date":"2026-02-12T18:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161925\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T18:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T18:32:09","slug":"new-traffic-sensors-roll-out-across-pearland-intersections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161925\/","title":{"rendered":"New traffic sensors roll out across Pearland intersections"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPearland is rapidly modernizing the way it regulates traffic flow with a new generation of digital traffic sensors called NoTraffic\u2014an artificial intelligence mobility platform that provides real time data on vehicle and pedestrian movements through intersections.<\/p>\n

At a glance<\/p>\n

The systems alert the city when something goes wrong, so city staff don\u2019t have to rely on citizen reports or routine checks to become aware of problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to our system, you would start getting calls from drivers,\u201d said Tim Morehead, the director of sales at Texas Highway Products. \u201cMaybe there\u2019s a wreck, and they start inundating you with the calls about the wreck, and you don\u2019t find out about the wreck until you start getting all those calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morehead added that the sensor systems allow cities to fix traffic problems before residents flag them to the city.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the city bought over 30 sensor systems from Texas Highway Products and is preparing to install nearly a dozen more in 2026, Morehead said.<\/p>\n

The new sensors will be installed in batches of about 10-15 intersections at a time, Pearland Traffic Superintendent Mario Tellez said.<\/p>\n

“><\/p>\n

How we got here<\/p>\n

Pearland\u2019s signal equipment and sensors, which differs from newer technology now being installed, are more than a decade old, Pearland Traffic Engineer Yolci Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

To try reducing maintenance, the city was using in-pavement magnetometer sensors and then tried a single-camera per intersection detection. However, the cameras struggled with weather and obstructions, such as birds sitting on the cameras and blocking the footage, Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

By 2024, the city began piloting the NoTraffic system and noticed a \u201cbig difference,\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology changes every year, and our signals [and] our equipment are no different,\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cIt\u2019s all electronic parts … [that] has been in place for more than 10 years. Usually, people think that once you build a new signal, it will last forever. That is not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

From 2020-22, Pearland had nearly 2,100 accidents within the city\u2019s intersections, according to data from a 2024 study conducted by engineering firm HNTB. This data helped show Pearland engineers that the old, fixed schedules weren\u2019t enough, Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

The new system tracks how people actually move through an intersection, such as red-light running.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat that tells us is that maybe we need to extend the green time, or maybe we need to change how the signal is timed … so there\u2019s not that many people running the light,\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

Currently, the city has 115 intersections, with a plan to add five more in fiscal year 2025-26, according to city documents.<\/p>\n

Compared to other cities in the Greater Houston area, Pearland maintains a similar ratio of residents-to-signals as Sugar Land, while falling between the high density of Galveston and the lower density of League City, data shows.<\/p>\n

\"table\"chartManaging the impact<\/p>\n

Since 2021, most major roadways in Pearland saw a steady increase in traffic volume, data from the Texas Department of Transportation shows.<\/p>\n

Roadways such as FM 518, or Broadway Street, saw a sharp increase in traffic volume in 2023, followed by a sharp decline in 2024, data shows.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Tellez named intersections such as Broadway Street and Dixie Farm Road as spots with \u201cconstant congestion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"chartLooking ahead<\/p>\n

Currently, city officials are in the implementation phase of the 2024 study conducted by HTNB, which laid out a five-year roadmap for traffic management throughout the city, Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

The implementation phase includes updating controllers, and standardizing the NoTraffic system on new signals.<\/p>\n

Each NoTraffic sensor costs about $26,000. City officials are currently seeking grants to help pay for implementing the new sensors.<\/p>\n

The study also evaluated staffing levels. Currently, Pearland has about 19 signals per staff member. For comparison, League City maintains roughly 10 signals per staff member.<\/p>\n

Officials said Pearland\u2019s higher ratio places greater operational demands on staff, which is why new technology must be rolled out gradually.<\/p>\n

Intersections will continue to be improved gradually to keep up with technology changes, with no set date yet for full installation, Tellez said.<\/p>\n

“In five years, there’s gonna be another better detection,” Ramirez said. “It’s like a phone … they change every year. We’re trying to have a plan for our staff, our equipment and funding.”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pearland is rapidly modernizing the way it regulates traffic flow with a new generation of digital traffic sensors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[66284,56,58,57,66289,19338,66287,66285,66288,66286],"class_list":{"0":"post-161925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-city-of-pearland","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-notraffic","13":"tag-pearland","14":"tag-pearland-intersections","15":"tag-pearland-traffic","16":"tag-pearland-traffic-lights","17":"tag-pearland-traffic-signals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}