Air Quality & Weather Systems

The One-Stop Shop for Traveller Information (OSS), a website that integrates weather and road information from multiple western states, developed at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute (WTI), has been awarded an international award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America). The OSS provides travellers with current road information that does not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Combined with real-time weather information, the OSS provides motorists with

Drive C2X has shown that advanced warning of poor road conditions could cut fatalities, as David Crawford explains. Connected vehicle (CV)-based warning technologies could mean 6% fewer deaths and 5% fewer injuries in road traffic accidents in Europe, according to the final results of the European Commission (EC) co-funded DRIVE C2X project. According to the European Centre for Information and Communication Technologies (EICT) which provided management support, these “prove that CV systems work and can hav

David Crawford investigates a promising development to counter the problem of fog in the Gulf States. Despite being a largely desert area with low rainfall, fog is a major driving hazard in countries on the Arabian peninsula, such as the UAE. The fog is the result of moist air moving across from the neighbouring Gulf during the afternoon and evening, and experiencing radiation cooling at night.

Idaho leverages the increased capability and reliability of its road weather sensor network to reduce costs and prevent accidents. Weather-related accidents can form a significant chunk of an authorities’ annual road casualty statistics. While authorities cannot control the weather, the technology exists to monitor the road conditions and react with warnings to motorists and the treatment of icy or snow-covered roads. However, with all capital expenditure now placed under the microscope of public scrutiny,

A mobile road weather sensor is providing authorities with new options for monitoring road conditions and winter maintenance operations. Road and traffic engineers know the vulnerable points in their network – cold spots where ice forms first, high-banked roads where snow accumulates, fog pockets… Traditionally, most authorities will position weather stations at these points to detect and monitor road conditions during bad weather events.

A new report, released in advance of United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit on 23 September, claims that more than US$100 trillion in cumulative public and private spending could be saved and 1,700 megatons of annual carbon dioxide (CO2) - a 40 percent reduction of urban passenger transport emissions - could be eliminated by 2050 if the world expands public transportation, walking and cycling in cities. The report, A Global High Shift Scenario, from the Institute for Transportation Development

Mobile Visual Information Systems (MVIS) and the creator of the Intellicone temporary work zone safety system, Highway Resource Solutions (HRS), have teamed up to create the Safelane automated traffic management system and the Multisafe Smart VMS. The companies say these are the first temporary road maintenance safety solutions to combine industry-leading modular electronic perimeters and variable message signs (VMS), providing a cost-efficient method of improving the safety of both road workers and road

Inrix has been selected by the I-95 Corridor Coalition as one of their preferred providers of real-time traffic information. The majority of member states in the I-95 Corridor Coalition are continuing to use Inrix XD traffic information to help them streamline daily operations, pinpoint investments and deliver better traveller services. The I-95 Corridor Coalition is an alliance of transportation agencies, toll authorities, and related organisations, including public safety, from the State of Maine to t

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has launched its I-94 truck parking information and management system (TPIMS), a system that assesses truck parking availability along the I-94 corridor in southwest Michigan and delivers real-time parking availability information to truck drivers. The project is federally funded under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Truck Parking Facilities Discretionary Grants Program.

Traffic planners are taking an intelligent approach to ensure golf fans heading to the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in Scotland later this month don’t find themselves bunkered by congestion. Organisers will use full matrix LED signs supplied by Mobile Traffic Solutions (MTS) to ensure the logistical operation runs smoothly. Some of the traffic management around the Perthshire venue, as well as the routes to and from park and ride sites in Perth, Kinross and Stirling, are being handled by the AA. They have follow