Pierce Transit, Tacoma invest in Transit Signal Priority

Pierce Transit is working with the City of Tacoma to install transit signal priority equipment to 86 intersections in the vicinity of greater Downtown Tacoma.  This equipment will work with transponders on Pierce Transit's buses to increase the amount of time that a traffic light stays green when a the vehicle approaches the intersection.

View Pierce Transit TSP Project in a larger map

The large six square mile area where the equipment will be installed is bounded by Sprague Avenue to the West, Portland Avenue to the East, Division Avenue to the North and Interstate 5 to the south

This effort builds upon previous work done by PT on several other corridors within the City that had significant on-time performance issues (such as Route 57 and non-downtown portions of Route 1) that were implemented back in 2004.  The new equipment will likely improve on-time performance of the Westbound Route 1 to Tacoma Community College, which routinely suffers delays in the range of  5-10 minutes during peak periods when the route is heavily used.  Route 1 operates at 15 minute headways for the vast majority of the day and at 30 minute headways off-peak.  Route 1 also deviates off of Pacific Avenue to Tacoma Dome Station to connect with Sounder Commuter trains from Seattle.

The project is funded by a Congestion Management and Air Quality grant filed by PT to help speed transit vehicles through the downtown core.  The project will use Opticom equipment produced by Global Traffic Technologies, a firm based out of St. Paul, Minnesota.

An interlocal agreement outlining goals and responsibilities between Pierce Transit and the City of Tacoma is on Pierce Transit's Board Agenda for the next meeting on November 8th.  If you'd like to attend, Pierce Transit Board Meetings are held at PT Headquarters at S. 96th and South Tacoma Way at 4pm - which for transit users is accessible via Routes 48, 3, and 300.

We'll be tracking the development of this project as it comes online.  Peter Stackpole, a Senior Planner at Pierce Transit, will be acting as the Project Manager.  He will be working with Chris Larson from City of Tacoma Public Works Department to implement the project.