How do you get traffic camera footage in San Antonio?

Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

TransGuide and the agencies inside it

TransGuide is the traffic operations center for the San Antonio area’s highways. In 2021, KSAT counted more than 200 cameras watching the major highways in and around the city. The same story listed who works under that one roof: TxDOT operators, HERO dispatchers, VIA bus dispatchers, City of San Antonio traffic signal operations and San Antonio police towing dispatch. TxDOT keeps adding cameras. In May 2024 it switched on five new ones along Loop 1604 between the Live Oak area and Judson Road (KSAT).

More cameras do not mean more saved video. A Texas House committee’s analysis of HB 2621 in 2025 said TxDOT maintains live video footage across 25 cities but does not maintain an archive of it. The bill would have required a 30-day archive. Because several agencies share the TransGuide building, send separate written requests to TxDOT, the City of San Antonio and VIA. Each one answers for its own records.

Asking San Antonio agencies for records

Under section 552.221 of the Texas Public Information Act, a governmental body must produce public information promptly. If it needs more than 10 business days, it must tell you in writing and set a date and hour. If it wants to keep something back, section 552.301 gives it until the 10th business day after your written request to ask the Attorney General for a decision.

SAPD’s open records page takes requests through the city’s Open Government Portal, which requires an account. It lists body and dash cam footage and 911 calls among the police records you can request. Crash reports are also sold through TxDOT’s crash report system, where SAPD says they can take up to 14 days to appear, and SAPD charges $6 for an accident report. When fees will be over $40, SAPD sends a cost estimate first. Answer it in writing within 10 business days, or SAPD may treat the request as withdrawn.

SAPD body camera video, dash cameras and 911 calls

Write the request so it cannot be bounced back. Code of Criminal Procedure article 2B.0112, which took the place of Occupations Code 1701.661 on January 1, 2025, says a member of the public asking for body camera recordings must give the date and approximate time, the specific location, and the name of one or more persons known to be a subject of the recording. The same article generally keeps body camera video outside the Public Information Act unless it is or could be used as evidence in a criminal prosecution. Put the 911 call and the dash camera video in the same request.

If SAPD filed charges, such as intoxication assault, the video may be held back while the case runs. Section 552.108 allows withholding when release would interfere with the detection, investigation or prosecution of crime. A denial is not always the end, because the agency generally has to seek an Attorney General ruling within the deadline to keep the records back. For body camera video, article 2B.0113 gives the agency until the 20th business day to ask.

Red-light cameras around San Antonio

The city of San Antonio itself did not use red-light cameras when the state ban passed. Texas Public Radio reported in June 2019 that “the cameras are not used in the city of San Antonio, but some suburbs have them.” TxDOT says HB 1631 ended new programs on June 2, 2019, but let cities with ordinances enacted before May 7, 2019 keep running cameras under existing contracts until those contracts expire, as long as the contract has no termination clause for a ban.

That exception mattered locally. In January 2022, KSAT reported that Balcones Heights and Leon Valley were still issuing red-light camera tickets because of existing contracts, and that the Balcones Heights contract ran through 2034. Programs like these can change. If your crash happened in one of those suburbs, ask that city in writing whether a camera was active at the intersection on that day.

VIA buses, businesses and doorbell cameras

VIA has its own process. Its Transit Police procedure, SOP 606, says open records requests to VIA Metropolitan Transit come through VIA’s Public Information Coordinator, and written requests for VIA police records go to the department investigator, who is the custodian of records. Give the route, the direction and the stop. If a VIA bus hit you, read our page on bus accident lawsuits.

For a business or a home camera, ask in person and in writing. Name the camera, the date and a short time window, and ask the owner to copy the clip before the system records over it.

When a bus camera recorded over itself

A Texas Supreme Court case shows why video should be saved early instead of fought over later. In Wackenhut Corp. v. Gutierrez (2015), a charter bus collided with a car. The bus had four cameras that overwrote their recordings after 168 hours. One camera may have captured the impact, but the footage was not kept. The trial court told the jury it could presume the lost video was unfavorable to the bus company, and the jury found for the driver. The Supreme Court held the instruction should not have been given, because the driver still had plenty of other evidence, and it sent the case back for a new trial.

The takeaway for a San Antonio crash: do not count on a court to fix lost video. Send preservation letters to VIA, to any company whose truck or bus was involved, and to nearby businesses in the first days. For commercial vehicles, see truck black box and dashcam evidence.

Claims against the City of San Antonio

The city’s Notice of Claim page says a claim must be given within 90 days after the injury, citing City Charter Section 150. Texas law ratifies charter notice periods like this (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code 101.101). A city vehicle, a broken signal or a road defect can all trigger it.

Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou.

What this means for your case

In San Antonio, ask TransGuide’s agencies early but expect no saved highway video. Spend the first days on SAPD, VIA and private cameras, and on the 90-day city notice if it applies. Our Texas injury attorneys can handle the letters. For the Houston version of these steps, see how to get traffic camera footage in Houston.

Common questions

Related pages

Injury law FAQs

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 7, 2026.