Highway & Network Management

A draft National ITS Industry Strategy developed through extensive industry and government stakeholder consultation has been released for public comment by ITS Australia. It encompasses road, rail, sea and air transport from 2012 to 2017. Its purpose is to improve the safety, economic and environmental performance of Australia's transport networks by capitalising on state of the art ITS technologies and integrating those technologies across the networks. ITS Australia CEO Susan Harris said the strategy f

Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has been selected to design and supervise deployment of technology infrastructure for a US Department of Transportation (US DoT) pilot programme to study the potential of operating connected vehicles on the streets and highways of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Called the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment project, the $15 million research effort is being undertaken by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and its partners on behalf of the US DoT.

Dynalectric Los Angeles, a subsidiary of Emcor Group, has been awarded a contract for the Coliseum/Florence region for the automated traffic surveillance and control (ATSAC) project for the city of Los Angeles.

According to figures from Dutch automotive association and tourism group ANWB, traffic congestion, which is measured by the length of jams multiplied by the length of time of the jam, decreased 27 per cent in the Netherlands in 2011, compared to the averarage across the last five years.

The Danish government has shelved the plans for a road toll scheme for Copenhagen. The decision has been welcomed by opposition parties, and the government is now set increase funding for public transport so that ticket prices can be reduced. However, full details of the increased financing of public transport are yet to be disclosed. A government appointed expert committee will also study how to reduce congestion.

The Austrian Industrial Association (IV) has called for a road pricing system under which drivers would pay less for owning a car but more for using it. This could lower CO2 emissions. The IV's general secretary Peter Koren said that currently those who d

Q-Free has been awarded AutoPass contracts by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) at a value of over US$5 million. The contracts are related to the E6/E18 Østfold and E6 Øyer-Tretten, and comprise delivery and installation of fully automated toll stations and service and maintenance for five years. Commenting on the contract award, Øyvind Isaksen, Q-Free CEO, said, “It is important for our international activity to have a leading position in our home market, and we will continue to defend this

Visionstream Australia has been selected as preferred provider for an AU$62.5 million (US$67 million) contract by VicRoads to deliver the ITS communications infrastructure and intelligence services to the M80 Ring Road in Melbourne, Australia. The installation of this electronic freeway management system along 38kms of road from Laverton North to Greensborough will provide VicRoads with the ability to manage traffic flow and reduce congestion on the M80 and its main connecting roads. Under the contract, Vis

Vitronic Machine Vision Middle East and its Qatar partner Itqan Holding have announced an order for 26 PoliScan systems, 16 of which will be employed for speed enforcement, while ten will operate as combined solutions for speed and red light enforcement. The Doha airport’s operating company Qatar Civil Aviation Authority is Vitronic’s end customer in Qatar and the new systems will be used primarily for enforcement on the Airport Road, built last year. The PoliScan systems’ deployment, Vitronic’s secon

Telvent GIT has announced that the company is rolling out its advanced mobility management technology, SmartMobility Traffic, in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Panjin, Fushun, Nanning, Urumqi, Erdos, Yiqi, Changchung and Zhunki. The company says its technology is helping to reduce traffic delays in these urban environments by over 35 per cent and will enable traffic operators in these cities to centralise urban mobility and violation management, control traffic in real time, and respond more rapidly to any