Highway & Network Management

Russia's state-owned company Avtodor has approved a massive new road development programme that stretches to 2019. The firm plans to build over 1,900km of roads, of which 1,200km will be tolled. Avtodor expects that its income will reach US$2.92 billion from the tolled roads. The investment programme will be jointly funded by state and private sources.

VAB, the association of Flemish drivers, has said that the new hard shoulder running scheme on the E313 motorway between Antwerp and Liege during rush hours has reduced travel time by 50 per cent.

Iteris has announced Vantage Vector, the latest addition to its portfolio of Vantage vehicle detection solutions. The new device, which fuses the company's proven video detection with radar sensor technology to extend the range and richness of detection data, will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2012.

Aegis ITS, an Econolite Group company, has announced it will merge with fellow Econolite Group company, Team Econolite, to form a single division - Aegis ITS. The consolidation, effective 1 January, 2012, is designed to provide complete ITS services, streamlining operational processes for enhanced customer service

Italian motorway operator Autostrade per l'Italia (ASPI) signed the US$3.86 billion contract awarded earlier on in 2011 for the heavy vehicle satellite toll system of the motorway network in France.ASPI leads a consortium also including French telecom group SFR with a six per cent stake, defence group Thales with 11 per cent, IT specialist Steria with three per cent, and transport firm SNCF with 10 per cent.

TransCore has today launched ROVR, a GPS device with GSM communications that allows infrastructure-less tolling and includes an optional driver safety monitoring feature shown to dramatically reduce accidents, improve fuel economy, and decrease Greenhouse gases (GHG).

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting the modernisation of the urban roads system in the Macedonian capital Skopje, with a ?5.6 million loan to introduce a modern traffic management system and upgrade one of the key arteries in the city.

The OmniAir Consortium has announced the completion of the development and testing of an Electronic Payment Services National Interoperability Specification (EPSNIS). This is a next generation ETC Services technical standard written by OmniAir's EPS Committee to control a financial transaction network for electronic processing of vehicle transactions.

PIPS Technology has announced it has been instrumental in drafting a new industry standard UTMC (Urban Traffic Management and Control) interface for ANPR systems to overcome difficulties for technology from different systems being able to communicate with each other. For example, PIPS JTMS (Journey Time Measurement System) may not communicate all data to a traffic management system supplied by a third party, because they are designed and built in differing ways, using dissimilar software by different compan