Staff outlines $15M'$20M transportation packages for 2026 bond; council debates adding ADA upgrades and new signals

City transportation staff urged the Richardson City Council to prioritize traffic-signal rebuilds and active-transportation projects when considering a potential 2026 bond, offering two price-point packages and asking for council direction on whether to add ADA intersection upgrades and new signal locations.

Mark Nelson, Director of Transportation Mobility, briefed the council on the city's traffic and active-transportation inventory and proposed bond candidates. Nelson said the city manages roughly 134 traffic signals (135 soon), 26 schools with about 90 school-zone flashers, 12 rectangular rapid flashing beacons, roughly 1,000 city-owned street lights, over 22,000 signs, about 400 lane miles of pavement markings and about 27 bike-lane miles.

On costs and service life, staff used an industry standard 25'30 year life for signals and presented a construction estimate of about $585,000 per signalized intersection (all legs). Based on prioritization and life-cycle needs, staff proposed 14 traffic-signal rebuilds (estimated ~$8.2 million), seven new warranted signals (~$3.8 million), and a menu of active-transportation projects including trail segments and crosswalk upgrades. Staff noted several grant-eligible avenues (including TxDOT HSIP) that can be leveraged for certain safety-focused projects.

For council consideration staff offered two packages: a $15 million option that would fund the 14 prioritized signal rebuilds, half of the ADA intersection improvements and select active-transportation items (Owens Trail upgrades and some crossing upgrades); and a $20 million option that adds two new warranted signal locations (Renner & Sharp and Belt Line & Weatherhead) and further active-transportation work. Staff said their overall unconstrained list totaled about $39.6 million after applying a 5% annual compounded inflation assumption.

Council members debated whether to add the remaining ADA intersection upgrades to the $15 million package; some members favored folding the $1.3 million ADA work into the $15 million option to ensure citywide ADA compliance for intersections. Members also asked staff about grant-readiness, making projects shovel-ready, and hardware needs for an AI/traffic signal pilot being tested with UTD (referred to during the briefing as requiring upgraded controller hardware for advanced software). Nelson said upgraded intersection hardware is required for advanced signal-control software and that staff would provide design and cost alternatives.

Staff did not present a specific funding ordinance or call for a vote during the briefing; rather, they requested council feedback on priorities, including whether to accept the conservative $15 million option, expand to $20 million to include new signals and additional active-transportation projects, or adopt variant amounts. Staff said they will return with refinements after the remaining bond deep-dive presentations.