The City of Richmond, VA (City) the state capital of Virginia, has a population of just more than 226,000, with the larger Richmond metropolitan area having a population of more than 1.3 million. As a result, the City experiences urban levels of traffic and congestion. In 2009, the City started a comprehensive program to invest and modernize its transportation infrastructure and multimodal operations. Econolite partnered with the City on several technology-driven transportation upgrade projects in support of the City’s transportation modernization objectives.
In 2025, Econolite continues to build upon its partnership with the City of Richmond by also working with the Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) and Department of Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response (DECPR) stakeholders to integrate and deploy Centracs Priority, a state-of-the-art dynamic Transit Signal Priority (TSP) and Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) system. Centracs Priority is designed to enhance transit schedule adherence, improve emergency response times, and provide a safer, more efficient, equitable, and sustainable transportation system for all the City’s roadway users.
The City currently leverages Econolite’s Centracs Mobility Platform, as well as Econolite’s traffic signal controller hardware and traffic control software at each intersection. Econolite’s long-standing partnership with the City provides a deep understanding of the transportation ecosystem and the current network infrastructure, enabling Econolite to be better positioned to help the City meet its TSP and EVP goals while enhancing mobility. Centracs Priority is being deployed to:
- Improve transit schedule adherence and reliability
- Reduce emergency vehicle response times
- Enhance roadway safety and operational efficiencies
- Maintain and optimize coordinated signal operations
The Centracs Priority solution to be deployed in Richmond leverages the Center-to-Center (C2C) capability of Centracs ATMS to operationally integrate GRTC Transit, DECPR, and the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)/Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) systems. In addition, Econolite will furnish, install, integrate, program, and perform operational acceptance testing for the centralized TSP/EVP system. Centracs Priority will provide TSP and EVP in advance of arrival at a signalized intersection, as well as at downstream traffic signals with consideration to dynamic routing in the event of route diversion or changes. It will also determine priority service strategies based on Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) and situational awareness of the complete route. Centracs Priority will deliver an “infrastructure-less” solution that does not require additional hardware to be installed onboard existing vehicles or in the City’s traffic signal cabinets.
Centracs Priority’s powerful architecture also uses route service engines to create alternative dynamic routes to best manage vehicles that deviate from the assigned route delivered by the CAD/AVL or changes in routes due to ETA updates. In addition, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms are used for forecasting route travel times.
