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From 1 January, Mike Heiligenstein, executive director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), Austin, Texas, began his year-long term as president of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA). He says: “Over the next year, I look forward to leading our industry’s international association while highlighting the great work at The Mobility Authority and other IBTTA member organisations around the globe.” Eight other directors also began new terms on the IBTTA’s bo

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has launched a series of connected vehicle plugfests to conduct vendor-to-vendor connected vehicle device testing. These test sessions help to ensure that devices meet the base standard requirements and level of interoperability necessary for the Southeast Michigan Connected Vehicle Test Bed Deployment 2014 Project. The first plugfest will be held at Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia on 29-30 January 29-30. Additional PlugFests will be

The first over-height vehicle detection system (OVDS) in Qatar has been launched at the Duhail intersection in Doha. The new system will help provide greater control over trucks and protect bridges and tunnels, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) said yesterday. The system is operated and controlled by the traffic signal control room (TSCR) at Ashghal. The OVDS uses integrated sensors or height detectors, electronic message board and CCTV, to detect vehicles that violate the maximum permitted height of

Sustainable transport schemes across England could benefit from a multi-million boost in funding, thanks to the Department for Transport. Local authorities had until 23 December 2013 to bid for a US$128 million slice of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Minister for Transport Baroness Kramer said: “We have seen some real success stories from previous winning schemes so I am looking forward to considering the plans that are put forward. Earlier successful schemes addressed a variety of sustainable

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has received an order to supply Sri Lanka's Road Development Authority (RDA) with the country’s first highway traffic management system (HTMS). The system, slated to go on-stream by the end of 2014, will also be MHI's first installation of its full-scale traffic management system for expressways. As part of a package agreement, MHI will handle all aspects of the project from engineering, procurement and installation to adjustment and training. The HTMS will b

Launched in August 2013, the electronic tolling system installed in Belarus by Kapsch has seen a high level of use, with the number of registered users to date standing at approximately 160,000. This high usage has lead to the system being extended by 118 kilometres from January 2014. The expansion covers a segment of the M4 Minsk to Mogilev road, which will increase the total length of the Kapsch-operated toll roads in Belarus to 933 kilometres; an additional eleven tolling and enforcement gantries will

Portuguese tag issuer Via Verde, part of the Brisa Group, has ordered on-board units from Q-Free in an order worth approximately US$1.9 million. The order will be delivered within the second quarter of 2014. Q-Free’s fourth generation OBU610 is small and unobtrusive, yet powerful enough to support all applicable 5.8GHz CEN DSRC protocols for automatic registration, identification and fee collection from vehicles. “Via Verde has been customer of Q-Free since 1995 and we have now supplied more than 3.2

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is to make a loan of up to US$18.8 million to Avtobusnyi Park Kyzylorda, a municipal public transport company in the city of Kyzylorda, for purchasing of up to 100 green buses that run on CNG (compressed natural gas), the depot workshop equipment and GPS dispatching system. Krymbek Kusherbayev, of Kyzylorda Oblast, said: “Our citizens deserve better urban transport services. Today the local authorities and SPK Baikonur are pleased to receive EB

PTV Group’s truck parking app for Europe, originally launched for iOS devices, is now available for Android. Highlighting over 10,000 parking options along the main roads and motorways throughout Europe, it is the largest free platform for truck parking spaces in Europe. More information on this new app can be found at www.truckparkingeurope.com. "The enormous response to the successful launch of the first truck parking app tells us that we have our finger firmly on the pulse," says Frank Felten, PTV’

The third European Motorcyclists' Forum, to be held on 5-6 March 2014 in Brussels, will focus on intelligent transport systems (ITS) in the context of the Horizon 2020 initiative. Powered two wheeler (PTW) users are using new technology to improve their riding experience or to increase their safety, but as vulnerable road users, they are also affected by ITS deployment. The Forum, organised under the umbrella of the Riderscan project, will discuss the safety challenges faced by PTWs in an ever more

Ertico–ITS Europe and Glonass Union have signed an accord between the HeERO eCall project and Glonass Union, covering the pan-European 112 eCall system based on 112 and the Era-Glonass eCall system being deployed in Russia. The HeERO project manages the pre-deployment of the 112 pan-European eCall based emergency service in fifteen European states. Glonass Union is the Russian navigation services provider responsible for implementation of the accident and emergency response system Era-Glonass in Russia,

A truck safety solution developed by Volvo Trucks is said to minimise the risks posed to trucks with trailers by slippery winter roads and downhill gradients. Stretch Brake automatically retards the trailer and straightens up the rig on slippery downhill stretches. Stretch Brake is a complement to the rig’s electronic stability program (ESP), another system introduced by Volvo Trucks. While ESP is at its most effective at higher speeds, Stretch Brake is only operational at speeds below 40 km/h. Both syst

Georgia Tolls has awarded contracts for their second and third toll express lanes project on I-75 south and I-75/575 northwest. With national interoperability planned they require the toll systems supplier to install multi-protocol readers on the toll gantries to E-ZPass transponders as well as 6C sticker tags. Toll system integrator will be 3M who is to provide the toll system including vehicle detection, tracking and classification loops, 3-protocol RF readers, license plate imaging cameras and illumin

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the national railways company, in its drive to radically improve energy efficiency across its operations. A US$40 million loan, US$700,000 of which will be provided by the Clean Technology Fund, will finance a series of new technologies to reduce energy consumption, from an upgraded lighting system to alternative heating solutions such as heat pumps, solar water heaters and boiler upgrades. The progra

Spanish technology multinational Indra has been awarded four new contracts worth US$17 million for its traffic control and toll technology in Mexico. The technology will be implemented on the Paquete Michoacán motorways, the Poetas fast lane, the Celaya ring road motorway and the Necaxa Tihuatlan tunnels. Intelligent traffic systems (ITS) and toll systems will be deployed on the Celaya ring road motorway, including a control centre to integrate the various ITS and surveillance sub-systems via closed circ

Iteris is one of three firms selected to provide traffic design and operations training services to the US National Highway Institute (NHI). Under the five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, awarded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), fixed price task orders will be issued for the development, update and delivery of instructor-led and distance learning courses covering transportation operations. The National Highway Institute (NHI) plays a vital role in the FHWA’s

Gatso Australia is to supply the Queensland Police Service with speed enforcement systems for the Legacy Way Tunnel which is is scheduled to open to the public early in 2015. The tunnel, which will include two two-lane parallel tunnels, is a major motorway tunnel which will link the Western Freeway at Toowong with the Inner City Bypass at Kelvin Grove Gatso will implement combined instantaneous and multi section control speed enforcement utilising the T-Series solution which uses non-invasive speed de

Kapsch TrafficCom has been appointed to deliver two high profile electronic tolling projects in Australia. The contracts will see Kapsch TrafficCom deliver multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) tolling solutions on the Eastern Distributor toll road in Sydney and the Legacy Way toll road in Brisbane using Kapsch multi-lane free-flow single gantry technology. Kapsch TrafficCom’s single gantry solution will be deployed in both projects and to provide stereoscopic vehicle detection and classification, front and rear l

With Galileo’s early services scheduled to start next year, Fiammetta Diani is enthusiastic about the opportunities the EU’s GNSS system will offer. Next year will be a very exciting one for Galileo, the EU’s fledgling satellite constellation; additional satellites are scheduled for launch and, as European Commission Vice President Tajani recently announced, early operational services will be starting towards the end of 2014. So it really is ‘all systems go’ as Fiammetta Diani, market development officer in

German intelligent transportation systems supplier init has achieved contract wins in France and Finland. French local authority Le Grand Avignon has awarded the company a €5 million (US$6.7 million) contract for the supply and installation of a new control system for local public transport company TCRA (Transport en Commun de la Région d‘Avignon). The supplier will replace the existing control system and equip over 250 vehicles with the necessary hardware and software. Transport authorities in Turk