The City of Irving is part of a regional public safety radio network used by many cities across North Texas, including Fort Worth, Euless, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, Arlington, Grapevine, Southlake, Keller, Colleyville, Waxahachie, Midlothian, Burleson and Bedford. The North Texas Interoperable Radio Network supports departments including Information Technology (IT), Traffic and Transportation and Water Utilities.
On June 16, the City of Irving began construction on a replacement radio tower that sits adjacent to the current tower, located north of the City Hall parking garage off Rock Island Road. The new tower will support the city’s emergency response teams, as well as its general government functions. The City of Dallas also will use the new radio tower as part of its emergency response system. The new tower is part of a larger IT “Investing in Our Future” infrastructure project that will involve five radio towers across the city.
The City of Irving’s critical communication networks use a mixture of towers, poles and elevated water storage tanks. These systems include the Public Safety Communications Network, Office of Emergency Management’s Early Warning System, Traffic and Transportation’s Advanced Traffic Management System, and two Water Utilities networks — Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. The radio tower project will replace old infrastructure, move the current systems off elevated water storage tanks and build new towers for expansion and resiliency needs.
The $3.97 million project is funded through the IT, Traffic and Transportation and Water Utilities departments.
Construction on the City Hall tower includes the foundation work of drilling and pier placement, which will require crews to close the eastbound lane of Rock Island Road closest to the parking garage. This is the only site that will replace an existing tower.
Construction at City Hall and removal of the old tower is anticipated to run through Sept. 30.
In addition to the City Hall tower, four other towers are being constructed throughout the city. Two will replace communications infrastructure that is currently installed on Irving water towers. The other two new towers will support future expansion and coverage enhancements. The radio replacement project is slated for completion in October 2021.
Joining Forces
More than 150 agencies from across North Texas are members of the North Texas Interoperable Radio Network. These 36,000 users consist of police, fire, emergency medical services and general municipal government departments.
The updated radio communications network supports the following City of Irving programs:
- The Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) network operates 218 signaled intersections across Irving’s 1,440 lane-miles of roadway. Currently, 172 of these intersections (79% of the system) are online and communicating with the Traffic Operations Center. The remaining 21% of the ATMS network will be served from the new radio towers.
- The Advanced Metering Infrastructure Network currently supports 93% of the city’s meter reading, which includes more than 51,000 water meters.
- The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system supports the distribution of 20 million to 70 million gallons of water per day to residences and businesses throughout Irving. SCADA provides communication to more than 30 remote facilities that manage water pressure, drinking water and wastewater.
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