Goodyear pilots adaptive traffic-signal software; staff reports faster speeds on test corridors

Steve Sento, the city engineer, and Logan Hopp, deputy director of engineering, told the Goodyear City Council on June 15 that the city’s FY26 traffic‑management center (TMC) optimization project has moved into a live pilot phase and is showing early operational benefits.

“On Cotton Lane, the average speed in that project corridor increased by 17%, which equates to about 20 seconds of drive time saved per mile,” Hopp said. He reported Litchfield corridor improvements described as roughly “20 seconds,” and explained the adaptive software runs on live radar and camera feeds sent from the TMC to a cloud service that calculates near‑instant timing changes.

The nut of the project is to make signal timing responsive to real‑time conditions rather than relying solely on fixed coordinated plans. Staff said the pilot, activated in December 2025, runs seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and focused on corridors with close signal spacing and recurring congestion: Cotton Lane, Litchfield Road, and portions of Estrella Parkway (Estrella was later excluded from the presented results because construction skewed last year’s data).

Hopp and Sento also highlighted operational benefits observed during recent freeway‑ramp closures at Bullard Avenue and I‑10: adaptive timing adjusted ramp signals and corridor green time in real time, which staff said helped maintain steady vehicle movement despite added volumes. Staff described the service model as subscription‑based and provided a recurring cost figure: “It’s $500 annually per intersection,” Hopp said, while noting the vendor price could rise over time.

Council members asked for follow‑up details that staff did not have in the presentation, including detector photos and exact traffic‑count numbers for Bullard and Indian School corridors. Sento said staff would provide detector images and corridor counts after the meeting and noted that at least 10 signals are included in the current five‑year CIP for near‑term installation.

While presenting the benefits, staff cautioned that adaptive signal software is not a substitute for capacity projects. Hopp told council the technology “is simply not going to offset the increases in traffic that come with Goodyear’s rapid growth,” but that, combined with roadway widening, detection upgrades and more fiber, the city can manage flow more efficiently.

Next steps: staff will continue to collect and normalize a full year of pilot data through December 2026, evaluate corridor‑level results, and, if outcomes remain positive, identify additional corridors for implementation using funding available in fiscal year 2027. Council members asked for a written follow‑up with detector images, corridor counts, and the list of signals currently in the CIP; staff agreed to supply those items before further rollout.