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David Crawford reviews national and regional initiatives to boost Canada’s weather forecasting. Over the next five years Canada’s national weather services are due to benefit from a CAN$248 million injection of funding into the Environment Canada (EC) department to deliver timelier and more accurate weather warnings and forecasts for users including travellers and transport operators. The scheme, set out in the country’s 2013 Economic Action Plan, is to revitalise the services with new investments in federa

A survey into the effectiveness of weather-related variable message signs on a trans-mountain highway has some interesting results, as Alexis Bacelar told ITS Europe. A study in the Massif Central region of France evaluating the usefulness of winter weather warning signs has highlighted the effect of variable message signs on driver behaviour. During the winter of 2009-2010, road operator Massif Central Direction Interdépartementale des Routes (MC DIR) started installing bad weather-specific variable messag

Idaho’s use of key performance indicators to determine the effectiveness of its winter maintenance programme put it on the Best of ITS America shortlist. Idaho Transportation Department’s budget for winter maintenance is more than $25m – almost half of which is spent on snowplough operations. The State’s geography ranges from desert to mountains and Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) has a 500+ strong winter maintenance fleet to undertake snowploughing and spreading salt, salt brine, magnesium chloride a

The board of Schneider Electric has reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended offer by Schneider Electric to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Invensys, in a deal that the company says will boost its position in integrated industrial automation and electro-intensive market segments. According to Schneider, the acquisition will bring the company strong brands and presence in software for customer operational efficiency. Acquiring a global automation player with a large in

The European Solutions project on innovative and green urban transport solutions is calling for cities from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean to become involved in the project's innovation activities as leading, take-up or training city. The main focus of the Solutions project will be on the exchange between cities from Europe, Latin America and the Mediterranean. Solutions brings together some of the leading experts and city networks from these regions, aiming to foster knowledge exchange a

The latest report from Markets and Markets, “Traffic Management Market [Solutions, Displays, Systems] - Full Pedestrian, Parking Space and Toll Management, Above Ground Pedestrian and Vehicle Detection - Global Advancements, Market Trends, Enterprise Roadmap, Market Forecasts and Analysis (2013 - 2018)” analyses and studies the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities in North America, Western Europe, CIS plus Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

Transport for London (TfL) has announced the shortlisted bidders for its Electra contract to take the capital’s transport ticketing systems into the next decade. Cubic Transportation Systems, LG CNS Co CNF and Scheidt and Bachmann will be invited to submit detailed bids with the contract to be awarded by October 2014. The new contract will commence from August 2015 upon the expiry of TfL’s current contract for ticketing systems. The Electra contractor will assume responsibility for the provision and mainten

Jason Barnes reports from the ASECAP Days 2013 event, which took place in Dubrovnik. ASECAP, the European tolling association held its 41st annual Study and Information Days event in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which attracted more than 200 figures from the road infrastructure sector in Europe and beyond. A series of presentations over two days brought attendees up to date with developments in a variety of policy and technology fields and discussed a number of developing and new topics, such as GNSS-based tolling a

Jack Opiola from D’Artagnan Consulting LLP explains Oregon’s latest moves which mandated a trial of mileage-based road use charging. In 1919, Oregon made the 20th century’s most significant contribution to transportation funding policy, becoming the first state in America to implement a gas tax to pay for roads. This summer Oregon’s Legislature passed, and Governor John Kitzhaber signed into law, Senate Bill 810 which requires a distance-based road usage charge for 5,000 volunteer vehicles by 1 July 2015. T

Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE's national railway network, has issued invitations to tender for the first three contracts in the development of stage two of the rail network. The three invitations to tender, which were issued to all pre-qualified companies, are for contracts covering the design and build of new lines, including the lines between Ruwais and Ghweifat (137km), Liwa Junction and Al Ain (190km), as well as for the railway integration and systems contract, the company said in

US safety camera supplier American Traffic Solutions (ATS) has posted a strong first half of 2013, with notable contract awards from Atlanta, Chicago, and Orange County, Florida, among others, totalling more than 680 potential red-light, speed and school bus safety cameras. In Chicago, ATS was awarded the city's Children's Safety Zone Program after a lengthy procurement that included a head to head technology and service demonstration and evaluation process. Speed safety cameras will soon be installed near

Cutting highway and bridge work by 25 per cent in any given year, and then sustaining it in the years ahead, would cost Pennsylvania US$1.25 billion in lost economic activity over a five-year period and put as many as 9,600 jobs permanently at risk, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) chief economist told state lawmakers at a recent hearing. Dr Alison Premo Black was invited to testify before the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation committee based on a report she authored on beh

Drivers can now travel on toll roads in North Carolina and Florida using a single prepaid electronic transponder. North Carolina’s NC Quick Pass and Florida’s SunPass will function as one, providing seamless travel for motorists who pay tolls electronically. NC Quick Pass will accept all SunPass transponders on the Triangle Expressway as a form of payment, as long as the vehicle license plate is registered on the SunPass account. SunPass will also accept all types of NC Quick Pass transponders on their toll

The UK Department for Transport (DfT) may ban drivers from getting behind the wheel wearing Google Glass, the smart spectacles which act as a computer. A Department spokesman said: “It is important that drivers give their full attention to the road when they are behind the wheel and do not behave in a way that stops them from observing what is happening on the road. “A range of offences and penalties already exist to tackle those drivers who do not pay proper attention to the road including careless driving

In 1993, toll facilities in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania helped usher in regional toll interoperability in North America. Twenty years later, on 3 August, International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association’s (IBTTA), together with the rest of the tolling industry, will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the E-ZPass Interagency Group (IAG). Talking about the creation E-ZPass twenty years ago, IBTTA executive director and CEO, Patrick D Jones said: “One of the most transformative events in the his

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is to convene a two-day n Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program workshop on the use of vehicle noise for roadway, bridge, and infrastructure monitoring. To be held at FHWA's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia from 12:30 pm on 20n August to 12:30 pm on 21 August 2013, the workshop will provide participants from academia, the private sector, and government with an opportunity to discuss recent research and methodologies for measuring int

The latest multi-function inductive loop vehicle detectors from intelligent transportation systems supplier Reno A&E are designed to reliably detect all vehicles, as well as differentiating cycles from all other vehicles. The Model C-1101-B and C-1201-B detectors are available in 170/2070, NEMA TS1/TS2, ITS and ATC cabinet configurations. The company claims both models allow the traffic engineer to detect and provide safe passage time for cycles without compromising the intersection’s operating efficiency.

According to the European Commission (EC), open standards for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) would save the public sector €1 billion a year US$1.5 billion a year, citing Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) as one of the standards being developed in the transport domain. Launched in 1997, the UTMC programme was the UK Department for Transport (DfT) main initiative for the development of a more open approach to ITS in urban areas. UTMC systems are designed to allow the different application

Signal Group is expanding with controlling interest in Oregon-based Northwest Signal

Jason Barnes examines the trend towards single source supply of complete tolling and traffic management solutions with some senior tolling industry figures. Only a few years back, the major tolling system suppliers were aggressively positioning themselves as one-stop shops for tolling solutions and operations. No sooner has that little flurry of innovation settled than another trend has emerged – tolling companies wanting to become major ITS suppliers as well. Various tolling company seniors have in recent