Sugar Land’s traffic signal management program is progressing with new equipment purchases and more intersections being evaluated. The city will install an adaptive control system to 13 locations along Hwy. 6 to study traffic signal timings in real time. Sugar Land City Council approved the purchase of a Pod Wireless System from Trafficware Group, ATC Controllers and SynchroGreen Adaptive Control technology for about $1 million April 19. Funding will come from the city’s Capital Improvement Program. “[Traffic’s] always going to be an issue, and that’s just something people are going to have to accept as we move forward,” Sugar Land Mayor James Thompson said. James Turner, Sugar Land interim assistant director of public works, said his office will evaluate the technology along Hwy. 6 from Brooks Street to Dulles Avenue through the fall. “[The equipment] has [the] benefits of less transition periods. It considers side street traffic and pedestrians,” he said. “And with that said, the SynchroGreen module … is easy, in a sense, to use.” He ­­­told Council Member Joe Zimmerman the adaptive control system will be installed in two phases—starting in June—due to limited manpower. “Residents are anxious to get mobility,” Zimmerman said. “So, the sooner the better.” Hwy. 6 in Sugar Land sees an average of 60,000 cars per weekday, Turner said. His office will also install 770 pods at 25 intersections throughout Sugar Land. The new equipment purchases are a continuation of a three-year project that started in FY 2015. The first year of improvements included upgrades to traffic signal detection and data gathering capabilities, upgrades to the school beacon system and changes to the city’s Intelligent Transportation System website, according to meeting documents. If staff determine the adaptive control system is unsuccessful along Hwy. 6, Turner said he could relocate the licenses for the equipment to be installed along University Boulevard, Williams Trace Boulevard or Dulles Avenue. “If it does not work on Hwy. 6, I have even stronger confidence that it will work on University or Dulles or some of the other major corridors,” he said.