Drivers might not notice, but they're spending less time sitting at red lights in Frisco.
The city recently installed a $400,000 state-of-the-art traffic control system, which allows traffic engineers to monitor 70 different intersections throughout the city equipped with cameras.
When cars begin to back up, engineers can instantly change lights from red to green to clear out the traffic.
Joel Fitts, Senior Traffic Engineer says "I can change the signal time into a different plan, i can even at that moment do a manual pre-empt as we call it to turn one direction green clear out traffic on one side if it needs to be"
Traffic engineers can monitor the intersections from the system control room at Frisco's main fire station, or they can access it remotely on their laptops. The goal is that no driver should be stopped at an intersection for more than one red light.
The system was paid in part by a federal grant, and installed earlier this year. This is the first holiday shopping season that Frisco has had the system to keep traffic moving.
Cissy Sylo, Frisco's Director of Engineering Services says "all those shoppers who are going to the mall and shopping want to get in and out quickly., so we're going to release that traffic and get them in and out so they have a pleasant shopping experience here".
