Air Quality & Weather Systems

Barcelona’s strategy to cut car traffic

March 18, 2014

Barcelona is to deploy a strategy using a variety of approaches to cut car traffic by more than 20 per cent to improve air quality in the city, particularly nitrogen dioxide and particulates. Barcelona's busy harbour and crowded streets mean that air pollution in the city is a constant challenge. The city's Mobility Plan includes reforms to parking charges, the bus network, and the concept of 'superblocks', where access to certain areas is restricted to private vehicles. Previous versions of the conce

Police to enforce car ban as Paris battles smog

March 17, 2014

Thousands of cars will be banned from Parisian roads today as the city tries to curb dangerous pollution levels by introducing alternate driving days for the first time in nearly two decades. The radical move will see around 700 police officers deployed to man 60 checkpoints around the French capital to ensure that only cars with number plates ending in odd numbers are on the streets. Parking will be free for vehicles with even number plates, the Paris city hall said, calling on residents to consult

Rhode Island to install wrong-way driver warning system

March 5, 2014

Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is planning to invest US$2 million in a new system aimed at decreasing the number of wrong-way drivers on the state’s highways. According to Robert Rocchio, managing engineer of traffic and safety at RIDOT, the state sees a minimum of one fatal crash per year due to drivers going the wrong way on the state's major highways. RIDOT hopes to begin installing intelligent transportation systems on highway off-ramps at twenty different locations across the s

Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador role for Vaisala

February 28, 2014

Vaisala has been selected as a US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather-Ready Nation ambassador. The Weather-Ready Nation (WRN) initiative brings together government organisations, private enterprise and academia in an effort to build communities that are ready, responsive and resilient to severe weather events. The impact of extreme weather events can be mitigated with the help of accurate measurement systems, reliable observations as well as timely forecasting and predictio

US states target wrong-way drivers

February 25, 2014

Two states in the US, Florida and New York are working to reduce the risk of accidents caused by wrong-way drivers. In Florida, a six-month study conducted by Dr Haitham Al-Deek of the University of Central Florida found that only 10 per cent of drivers who witness a wrong-way driver called the police. The study does show that the number of ticketed wrong-way drivers has increased since 2005 and so have the calls to 911 reporting those drivers. "I do believe they happen more than

Caltrans develops remote remedy for ailing VMS

February 18, 2014

A remote diagnostic system for variable message signs keeps Caltrans staff safer and makes them more efficient. District 12 of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) maintains roads in Orange County including 292 route miles of freeway lanes and 240 directional miles of full-time high occupancy vehicle or carpool lanes. All of these lanes are controlled from the district’s transportation management centre (TMC) using a network of 58 variable message signs (VMS) positioned alongside or abo

Surveillance system planned for Mumbai-Pune expressway

February 18, 2014

In an effort to reduce the high number of accidents on India's first six-lane, high-speed, access controlled tolled expressway, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has decided to install a surveillance system involving speed cameras and digital message signs. According to a tender notice issued by the MSRDC, a total of 84 high-speed cameras will be installed at seven locations on the 93 kilometre road. The GPRS-based system will also record details such as the vehicle’s registrati

Kapsch TrafficCom awarded Texas tollway extension project

February 18, 2014

Kapsch TrafficCom has been selected by North Tarrant Express (NTE) Mobility Partners Segments 3 LLC to provide the toll collection, intelligent transportation and network communication systems for the NTE extension project. The NTE extension is approximately ten miles long, and runs along I-35W north of the city of Fort Worth. Kapsch will deliver ten all-electronic toll zones, including dynamic sign equipment and road sensors that provide the data to enable dynamic toll charges based upon actual traffic

Research finds LED stop signs effect ‘similar to normal stop signs’

February 5, 2014

The results of a two-pronged investigation by researchers from the Minnesota Traffic Observatory at the US University of Minnesota on the safety related effects of flashing LED stop signs have just been released. They conducted two studies: a statistical study to compare the crash frequency after installation of a flashing LED stop signs at 15 intersections to a prediction of what that crash frequency would have been had the flashing LED stop signs not been installed; and a field study using video to exa

MassDOT expands distribution of TrafficLand traffic video

January 31, 2014

TrafficLand, US distributor of live traffic video is to install its TLX™ video aggregation technology in Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s (MassDOT) highway operations centre to distribute real-time video from its road-side camera network to multiple stakeholders in the region. Under the agreement, TrafficLand will serve live video from 375 MassDOT traffic cameras to the DOT website. The number of cameras will expand to 500 by the end of 2014. TrafficLand will also provide specialised access