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The Texas Transportation Commission has awarded a contract to the Blueridge Transportation Group for the the planning, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of an express toll road and additional infrastructures for the SH 288 toll lanes project in Harris County in Texas. The consortium includes Israel-based Shikun & Binui Holdings, together with an infrastructure contractor and a financial investor. The ten mile stretch of road will connect Harris County to Houston. The project includes constr

The city of Delft in the Netherlands is using Q-Free’s Intrada ALPR automatic number plate recognition software, combined with the ScanGenius mobile scanner from ARVOO to enforce parking regulations in the city, in a concept developed by Dutch company Taxameter Centrale. Drivers register their vehicle registration number with the parking authorities via the city website or at local payment stations. Six ALPR cameras in the ScanGenius rooftop box scan the registration numbers of parked vehicles, process the

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is financing the construction and operation of a new domestic terminal at Dalaman airport in the south-western Turkish province of Muğla under a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. The Bank is lending US$196 million to YDA Havalimani Yapim ve Isletme, a special-purpose company set up by the Turkish construction and infrastructure company YDA Insaat, which was awarded the concession contract last year. The funds will be used to build a new ener

International safety manufacturer, Dräger, has received Home Office approval for its drug detection equipment for roadside drug testing. The fully automated Dräger DrugTest 5000 will be used by police forces around the UK, to test for cannabis and cocaine at the roadside, similar to the in which way drivers are breathalysed for alcohol. The device can also be used to in a range of industries including transport, logistics and haulage. The easy-to-use DrugTest 5000 underwent rigorous testing at the Home Offi

New York Department of Transportation (DOT), in partnership with the New York Police Department (NYPD), has launched Borough Pedestrian Safety Action Plans for each of the five boroughs in the city. The plans are one of 63 Vision Zero initiatives aimed at eliminating all deaths from traffic crashes, regardless of whether on foot, bicycle, or inside a motor vehicle. Despite aggressive pedestrian-oriented street re-engineering between 2007 and 2013, citywide pedestrian fatalities have not declined. In fact, t

The Illinois Tollway Board of Directors is eager to participate in a federal pilot program to test new connected vehicle technology that would allow cars and trucks to share real-time information about traffic congestion and roadway conditions to help reduce crashes. The Tollway has applied to participate in the program which would allow its federal government contractor, CDM Smith Federal, to test the new technology on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90), which is being rebuilt at a cost of US$2.5 bill

Siemens has won the contract to provide the traffic signal control system for Suzhou Industrial Park’s Administrative Committee (SIPAC) ITS Phase II Project in China. Under the contract, the company will supply 110 ST950 traffic controllers, designed and manufactured by Siemens in the UK, and a UTC/SCOOT traffic management system. Installation supervision, commissioning and integration services will also be provided. With real-time monitoring and networked control at junctions, optimised traffic signal para

A wave of charge-points to support the fast-growing popularity of plug-in vehicles will be installed across the UK after the government set out US$49 million of infrastructure support up to 2020. Homes, hospitals, train stations and A-roads will be some of the locations for further charge-points to maintain Britain’s position as a global leader in this cutting-edge technology. The support compliments the fast-growing popularity of ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) with grant claims rising four-fold in 20

The City of Fayetteville, North Carolina, is to partner with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) to launch a red-light safety camera program. Under the City’s previous automated enforcement program, angle crashes were reduced by 27 per cent at the eight intersections where the cameras were installed. Under the terms of the agreement, red-light safety cameras will be installed at identified intersections, which will be determined after a review by the city’s engineering department. Revenue from red-light runnin

Kapsch TrafficCom experienced stable business development in the first three quarters of 2014/2015 with existing installation and operation projects. The Group was also able to obtain a number of new orders in Australia during the third quarter, although new major orders, upon which the innovation and growth plans are based, remained elusive due to the lack of corresponding invitations to tender. Revenue of the Group during the first three quarters of the 2014/15 fiscal year was US$283.5 million, slightly b

The Department for Transport is to contribute US$4.6 million to help create a digital road map that will give the most detailed information yet to councils and emergency services. The new map, developed by Ordnance Survey, has the potential to transform how all levels of government maintain and improve roads by detailing information such as road widths, traffic calming measures and height and weight restrictions. This dataset could also be linked to other information held by government, including planned ro

The UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists has responded to the Department for Transport study carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) into the prevalence of illegal mobile phone use while driving, saying that the results are disappointing but not at all surprising. The figures show that, in 2014, 1.1 per cent of drivers in England and Scotland were observed holding a phone in their hand with a further 0.5 per cent observed holding the phone to their ear, equating to more than 470,000 motorists

Iteris has announced that Abbas Mohaddes has resigned as president and chief executive officer to pursue other opportunities. Mohaddes also resigned from the company’s board of directors. Kevin Daly, currently a non-executive director of Iteris, will serve as chief executive officer on an interim basis until the Company finds a permanent replacement for Mohaddes, who has agreed to provide transitional support services for a limited period as requested by the Company. Greg Miner, chairman of Iteris, commente

Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) and the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) are to launch an extensive joint pilot to introduce light-weight electric buses in Helsinki, where the demanding climatic conditions provide an excellent test environment. The first 12 buses, made from aluminium and developed by Linkker, will purchased by HSL and be in service by late summer. The buses will be equipped with sensors to collect data and a real-time monitoring and control system will be developed to receive info

Moscow, which has to contend with heavy congestion on its arterial and ring roads during rush hour, relies heavily on its newly-implemented intelligent transportation system (ITS). At the heart of the system is PTV Group’s model-based PTV Optima, which delivers accurate traffic information in real-time and enables dynamic forecasting for a timescale of 60 minutes. PTV Optima collects, compares, validates and combines data from multiple sources to produce a coherent and detailed traffic picture. Using a comb

As authorities strive to reduce expenditure and carbon emissions, Colin Sowman looks at some of the smart ways of managing street lighting while containing costs and maintaining safety. Street lighting can account for 40% of an authority’s energy consumption. So, faced with the need to reduce outgoings, some authorities are looking for smart ways of managing street lighting or even turning off swathes of street lights in the small hours. Back in 2008 the E-street Initiative report concluded that authorities

Pan-EU enforcement is set to become a reality after legislation is revised. In May 2014 the European Court of Justice ruled that European Directive 2011/82/EU, which came into force in November 2013 to facilitate the exchange of information between member states in relation to eight road traffic offences, had been set up on an incorrect legal basis. The regulations had been introduced under police cooperation rules on the prevention of crime, but the Court decided that the measures in the Directive do not c

Hikvision is expanding its DarkFighter low-light surveillance camera range with the release of the DS-2DF8223I-AEL pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) network camera which utilises a 23x optical zoom lens and is designed to capture colour and monochrome images in extreme low-light conditions. The camera features a large (1/1.9 inch), 2MP, progressive scan CMOS image sensor to capture colour images down to 0.002 Lux and monochrome to 0.0002 Lux. Together with a 120dB wide dynamic range and Hikvision’s 3D digital noi

Vitronic’s next generation traffic enforcement device, the PoliScan FM1, uses advanced LIDAR tracking technology to continuously monitor up to six lanes of traffic, creating a real-time image of the traffic situation. Designed for fixed and mobile deployment, the PoliScan FM1 can be deployed for both speed and red light enforcement, including mobile, spot and point to point speed enforcement, as well as tailgating and illegal use of individual lanes. The compact housing contains all sensor and documen

Colin Sowman looks at plans to convert 240km (150 miles) of HOV/car pool lanes. While some authorities have debated the conversion of high occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV) into express or managed lanes allowing toll paying single-occupant vehicles to avoid congestion, San Francisco’s Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has acted. It is converting 240km (150 miles) of HOV/car pool lanes to express lanes and last fall the MTC’s Bay Area Infrastructure Financing Authority selected TransCore to d