First new traffic signal controllers due for May installation

Written by Kelly Sanchez on April 1, 2026

Miami-Dade’s use of new traffic signal controllers is facing delays due to functions that are pending clearance, with the first controllers now tentatively set to be deployed in mid-May and with testing required on the updated software.

As Miami Today previously reported, the goal of the new Advanced Traffic Management System program is to replace aging traffic signal technology and establish a modern foundation to support and expand the use of traffic and congestion management.

The project involves replacing about 3,000 traffic signal controllers and upgrading detection systems at selected signalized intersections throughout the county. Horsepower Electric, a Hialeah-based company, was awarded the 10-year contract and has worked on the project, which requires the upgrading of at least 500 controllers per year.

Part of the project involves upgrades to the central software system at the county’s Traffic Management Center. Chief Operations and Maintenance Officer Frank Aira explained some of the ongoing challenges, including “a number of cybersecurity and network security provisions and requirements that have been approved at the national level” and that the Florida Department of Transportation has incorporated into its specifications taking effect July 1.

“The question is not whether we should meet the network security issues,” Mr. Aira said. “The question is, when the new updated software comes in, it still needs to be tested. So, if they begin in May, the new software may not be available in July but it may take until September, even a few months later, for it to have been tested against the county network, the county systems to make sure it works properly.”

“The big problem with this software, it’s not a change of the traffic portion of the software,” Mr. Aira continued. “It’s really a change to the operating system that runs the controller.”

He added that the county is working with the contractor to understand the impact of the major update, such as whether it can be done remotely and what the risk or cost to the county would be if physical action is required at every intersection.

“We want to avoid having to do work twice and, most importantly, having to pay for work twice,” Mr. Aira said, “so that is the key factor behind it. Again, the controllers are the basic infrastructure that we’re going to be able to build everything else on later. Devices, equipment that comes with AI capabilities, traffic management tools and strategies are all going to be based off what can be done with the controller. So the controller is the foundation, and we need to make sure that all of that is prepared for cybersecurity requirements.”

In addition, he said, two outstanding functions for the controllers are in a “90-day period of testing that’s prescribed by the county” and ends April 21. While the controllers are still in progress, work is being done to refine functionality and signal databases.

“Everyone needs to remember that traffic signal synchronization and coordination began in Miami-Dade County in the late 1970s – 1976 – so there is a lot of data and timing parameters that were established over 40 years, 50 years now almost, that over time, they – I’m not saying they are wrong, but the infrastructure itself changes,” Mr. Aira said, “meaning streets get widened, even smaller projects that change the corners, those all impact how certain timing parameters are, and we want to make sure those are updated and consistent with current Vision Zero hopes of pedestrian safety as well as making sure that there is consistency in a standardization of all these databases.”