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Redwood City will place up to 25 new thermal traffic surveillance systems within the next three years to improve road safety and flow as part of a routine roadway retrofit.
The Redwood City Council approved nearly $730,000 on Monday for this technology: sensors mounted at intersections that use heat instead of visible light or contact to detect and monitor vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.
This equipment is intended to upgrade the city’s older in-pavement equipment, which are sensors embedded into the road surface to detect movement passing over them. In-pavement devices, the city determined in its Monday staff report, are less accurate and more costly in terms of maintenance.
The city will phase in this system at up to 25 intersections over the next three years alongside pre-existing stoplights and traffic signals. The work will take place as part of prescheduled pavement and roadway improvement projects to avoid saw-cutting fresh pavement.
This tool is for traffic engineering and not for use by the Redwood City Police Department, the city’s communications coordinator, Jeanne Sullivan Billeci, said. The equipment will not generate recorded video, photos or identifying information that could be shared with outside agencies, unlike Automated License Plate Readers.
When asked whether some intersections could have both ALPRs and thermal cameras, Billeci said it’s possible but did not specify which intersections.
Redwood City has already installed thermal traffic cameras over the past five years, at intersections like Veterans Boulevard and Whipple Avenue, as well as along Middlefield Road from Woodside Road to Maple Street.
From 2026 to 2027, the city anticipates the installation of nine new systems at the following intersections: Broadway at Winslow Street; Broadway at Spring Street and Maple Street; Broadway and Chestnut Street; Industrial Road and G Street; Whipple Avenue and Veterans Boulevard; Whipple Avenue at Industrial Road and Winslow Street; Whipple Avenue and Arguello Street; Whipple Avenue and Alameda de las Pulgas; and Winslow Street and Brewster Street.
The decision to upgrade was prompted by the city’s concerns about the in-pavement system, which it said could fail during inclement weather and low-visibility conditions, and require more maintenance, according to the Monday staff report. After reviewing different products, the city concluded that thermal imaging offers greater accuracy and reliability, it said.
While the city welcomed bids from different companies for the thermal traffic system in February, only one submitted a bid: Control Tech West, Inc. According to the city report, one camera installed at a typical four-leg intersection will cost approximately $22,500. An additional $165,000 is included in the budget for technical support, equipment installation fees, remote maintenance and data storage support.
The three-year contract, capped at $727,500, will be paid through the Capital Outlay Fund and the Measure A-funded Traffic Signal Replacement Program.
Redwood City isn’t the only location in the region to phase in this system. Caltrans has increasingly adopted it, including, more recently, for projects along El Camino Real that require Caltrans permits. Foster City is one city that also uses this thermal detection system.
The Redwood City Council unanimously approved the thermal traffic system without discussion on Monday as a consent agenda item, after staff recommended it based on industry and state standards.
