Richardson presents FY26 transportation, safety and active-transportation work plan

Richardson's Transportation and Mobility Department presented its FY26 work plan, outlining operations, capital projects and grant-funded mobility initiatives including traffic-signal rebuilds, street-light upgrades, active-transportation expansions and a federally funded safety action plan.

Mark Nelson, the department director, told the council the city maintains about 134 signals and roughly 1,000 street lights (plus TxDOT-owned lights along state corridors) and that the department aims to replace signs on a 12-year cycle and pavement markings on a 5–7-year cycle; school-zone markings are inspected more frequently. The city is pursuing LED street-light upgrades and has a grant-funded new signal at Waterview and Frank Johnson (near UTD).

Nelson highlighted the city's success leveraging grant funds, notably the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) grants and other federal and regional funds; TxDOT is advancing several of the citys grant-funded signal reconstruction projects and the city has been able to fund only a portion of some intersections locally. Nelson said TxDOT will advance additional intersections as part of the FY26 program.

Active-transportation initiatives include bike-lane and neighborhood byway projects completed in FY25 and planned FY26 work. Nelson emphasized the Cotton Belt Trail connection work, coordinated with DART and NCTCOG, expected to be complete in the first quarter of calendar 2026. The department also plans to complete a communications master plan to guide upgrades from 4G communications toward future platforms and to buy new intersection cameras phased across FY25–26.

On safety, Nelson said the city has a consultant working on a federally funded Safety Action Plan focusing on data-driven reduction of high-injury crashes; staff will start community engagement in August and aim for plan adoption in spring with completion in May–June.

Council members praised staff for leveraging grants and asked for clarification on Safe Routes to School, the contents of a signal reconstruction (foundations, poles, ADA ramps, audible pedestrian signals) and the communications plan including 4G/5G transition constraints. Nelson and his team answered those questions and said some upgrades are constrained by the need to maintain a single communications platform during a transition.

Ending

Staff will continue to implement FY26 work plan elements, pursue grant opportunities, complete community engagement on the Safety Action Plan and finalize budget recommendations once certified property values are available.