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The outlook for the US toll road industry remains positive, reflecting the expectation of continued strong traffic and revenue growth in the next 12 to 18 months, according to Moody’s Investors Service in its yearly outlook, Tolls Roads – US: 2017 Outlook – Strong Traffic and Revenue Growth Support Positive Outlook. Moody’s estimates that median traffic growth among 48 rated toll roads will range from three per cent to four per cent in the remainder of 2016 and into 2017, and that median toll revenue wil

ITS Australia has announced the election of new and re-elected board members: Bill Advic of Eastlink, Gino Dompietro of Jacobs Group, Chris Koniditsiotis of Transport Certification Australia, Jeremy Nassau of Transurban, Soren Tellegen of Kapsch TrafficCom Australia, Dirk Van de Meerssche of Cubic and Michael Watts of Transmax. They will join the ongoing members of the board, which will continue to be led by Brian Negus as president and Dean Zabrieszach as vice president. “The ITS industry is well repres

The European Union has finally agreed to Germany’s plan to introduce road tolls, says EurActiv, despite originally saying that the proposals were discriminatory to foreign drivers and would break EU law. Germany will now change its road toll law so that it does not discriminate against drivers registered in other EU countries, German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said. However, the plan has met with opposition from Germany’s neighbours in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Denmark. Aust

BMW Group, Daimler, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create the highest-powered charging network in Europe. The goal is the quick build-up of a sizable number of stations in order to enable long-range travel for battery electric vehicle (VEV) drivers. They say it is an important step towards facilitating mass-market BEV adoption. The projected ultra-fast high-powered charging network with power levels up to 350 kW will be signific

Finnish organisations Pöyry, YIT and VR Track are to implement the Tampere light rail project on behalf of the City of Tampere for the implementation of the Tampere light rail project. The revised cost estimate for the implementation stage is US$2154.5 million (€238.8 million). The first phase of construction will commence in the first half of 2017 and is expected be complete by 2021. During this phase, the new rail line will be extended by 15 kilometres and a depot will be constructed in Hervanta. The

Following a letter written by motorcyclists’ organisations Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA), MAG NL and KNMV sent to the Netherlands Vehicle Authority RDW, expressing concerns about European type approval for Tesla, vehicle authorities will cooperate with motorcyclists’ organisations and conduct their own test program with different brands of semi-autonomous cars. A driver of a Tesla – and of an increasing number of advanced cars – can leave key actions to the vehicle, while in t

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has awarded a contract to DESIGNA Access Corporation to install new vehicular parking and access control systems at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Stewart International Airport. This contract is in excess of US$70 million and will use Designa’s Abacus technology which has been installed at numerous international airports.

A self-driving truck developed by Otto has been travelling on two Ohio roads after state officials announced details of new investments to support innovative transportation technology, says Associated Press. The vehicle is travelling on a 35-mile stretch of US Route 33 and in central Ohio between Dublin and East Liberty, home to the Transportation Research Center, an independent testing facility. It travels in regular traffic, with a driver in the cab to intervene should problems arise. Officials say

The European Commission has adopted a European Strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), a milestone towards cooperative, connected and automated mobility. The Strategy will make it possible to deploy vehicles that can communicate with each other and the infrastructure on EU roads as of 2019. Digital connectivity is expected to significantly improve road safety, traffic efficiency and comfort of driving, while boosting the market of cooperative, connected and automated driving and th

Siemens and NXP Semiconductors recently hosted live connected vehicle (CV) demonstrations in downtown Tampa in conjunction with the Florida Autonomous Vehicle Summit. Participants were driven around the half-mile course to experience how connected vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies work in a real-world setting. The technologies demonstrated reflect some of the systems that Tampa will feature as part of the upcoming Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority’s (THEA) and US Department

Thousands of buses and taxis will be made greener and cleaner after the Transport Secretary confirmed a US$363 million (£290 million) investment to support low emission vehicles this week. The funding will be invested in a number of projects, including: £150m for cleaner buses and taxis and US$100 million (£80 million) to improve the electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is now open for applications. US$25 million (£20 million) has also been allocated to an Adva

Engineering, planning and consulting services company Michael Baker International recently completed a nearly US$7-million project for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to collect data from more than 8,600 traffic signals across the state. Over a year, the Michael Baker team, working with PennDOT’s Traffic Signal Asset Management System (TSAMS), collected nearly 20 million data fields for each of the 8,623 traffic signals analysed, which populated a centralised database to support Pen