Fire detection systems are essential fire protection elements for road tunnels to detect fires, activate safety systems and direct evacuation and firefighting. However, the information on the performance of these systems is limited and the guidelines for application of tunnel fire detection systems are not fully developed. The National Research Council of Canada and the Fire Protection Research Foundation, with support of government, industry and private sector organizations, have initiated a project to investigate current fire detection technologies for road tunnel protection. The two year project, which included full scale laboratory in and in-situ examination of detection system performance, was completed in February of 2008. This paper describes the detailed research program and summarizes project findings.