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Renton staff present ITS ‘Smart Mobility’ master plan to improve safety, reliability and emergency response
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Summary
City transportation staff and a DKS consultant presented an ITS Smart Mobility Master Plan outlining near-, mid- and long-term steps—adaptive signals, secure remote access, redundancy and TMC modernization—to improve safety, reduce delay and make operations more resilient. Council members pressed staff on timing, cybersecurity and AI detection.
Montana Miller, a consultant from DKS Associates, introduced the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Smart Mobility Master Plan to the Renton Committee of the Whole and said the effort is intended as a practical, phased roadmap for implementable projects.
The plan, presented by the city’s ITS presenter, recommends using data and technology—adaptive signals, cameras and communications networks—to actively manage traffic in real time rather than react after problems occur. “We can’t build our way out of congestion, so instead we need to operate our system smarter,” the presenter said.
Why it matters: Renton is growing and has limited ability to expand roadway capacity. Staff said ITS investments can smooth traffic flow, reduce delay and improve reliability on key corridors without widening streets, and can help identify risky conditions earlier to prevent crashes—an outcome the presenter said aligns with the city’s Vision Zero goals.
Key proposals and near-term steps: The plan prioritizes foundational near-term investments—cybersecurity, improved communications and signal upgrades—that staff say are already covered in the 2026 ITS program budget. Identified corridor priorities for adaptive-signal coordination include Northeast 3rd and 4th streets and Sunset Boulevard; the Grady and Main corridor was described as pushed to 2029 because of overlapping Sound Transit and King County Metro construction. Staff said the plan uses a phased approach: near term (roughly 2–3 years), midterm (around 5+ years) and longer-term work depending on cost and grant opportunities.
Operations and resilience: Staff emphasized the importance of secure remote access and network redundancy so that a single outage does not take down an entire corridor. The presenter said these steps are prerequisites for later capabilities such as next-generation transit signal priority and freight movement improvements.
Council questions and concerns: Council members asked for clarity on the timing assigned to near-, mid- and long-term projects; staff said those timelines will be refined as projects move through design and as the council develops budgeting priorities. Cybersecurity was raised by a council member who warned against a large-scale outage scenario; staff responded that separating the transportation network from the city network, installing firewalls and building redundancy are central to the recommended approach. Director Seitz and staff noted that AI-enabled camera detection can reveal “near misses” that traditional crash data miss, allowing more proactive safety responses rather than waiting for crashes to occur.
Next steps: Staff said they will finalize the draft plan, provide an executive summary and seek formal council adoption of the ITS Smart Mobility Master Plan once the document is complete. No formal vote occurred at the meeting.
Sources: Presentation to the Committee of the Whole by Montana Miller (DKS Associates) and the city’s ITS presenter.
