Charging, Tolling & Road Pricing

Nine years after its opening, the 27-mile M6 toll motorway in the UK has had its video surveillance system upgraded in order to increase recording capacity and comply with changing data security requirements. The motorway bypasses the M6, one of the most congested pieces of road in Europe, which travels through Birmingham. Systems maintenance manager for operators Midland Expressway Limited (MEL), Paul Perry, explained why they decided to upgrade their system: “The existing Wavestore recording system has d

Opened on 17 November, the fourteen-mile corridor of new high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in Northern Virginia from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road on the Virginia side of the Capital Beltway provides drivers with a faster, more predictable trip on the Capital Beltway. The 495 Express Lanes project supported more than 16,000 jobs and generated nearly US$3.5 billion of economic impact state-wide. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) provider Open Roads Consulting (Open R

Q-Free is to supply the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket, with further equipment for the Gothenburg congestion charging project. Q-Free says the value of the contract has now been increased by US$5.32 million for delivery of additional charging stations, related equipment and services for two years. Across the world, in Brazil, Q-Free has received a second frame agreement to supply tolling tags to Centro Gestao Meios de Pagto (CGMP), Brazil’s Centro tag distributor, valued at US$12, with a gua

Kapsch TrafficCom IVHS is to supply the Texas Department of Transportation with the company’s IDS 2.0 integrated incident detection system for the Washburn Tunnel in Houston, Texas. The non-invasive detection system will be linked to 14 fixed roadway cameras for detection of incidents in the two-way vehicular tunnel and up to six infrared intrusion detection cameras in the ventilation tunnel, enabling tunnel operators to provide cost-effective continuous 24/7 surveillance and monitoring. In South America, K

Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen the Intelligent Mechatronic Systems (IMS) platform to enable their next generation Road Usage Charge Pilot Program (RUCPP). This key component of Oregon's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) will be rolled out to other states in the near future. This trial is the second for IMS, with work already underway for a road charging program for a federal government in the Far East.

A leading Chinese transportation expert has called for China to develop smart traffic technologies that are more customer-oriented, while boosting greener, safer and more efficient modern transportation in the country. "China's ITS applications should shift their focus to provide more solutions for public transportation in the next decade, and the industry should get a new stimulus by responding to the needs of the market," said Wang Xiaojing, chief engineer at the Research Institute of Highway under the Mi