Air Quality & Weather Systems

Assembly urges full speed ahead on new ultra-low emissions zone

August 6, 2013

The London Assembly has written to the Mayor Boris Johnson to urge him to look at bringing in a ultra-low emission zone for central London sooner than 2020 and not to restrict plans to new vehicles only. In February this year the Mayor said he wanted to make almost all vehicles driving in central London during working hours zero or low emission by 2020 and asked Transport for London (TfL) to prepare plans for a new ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ). The London Assembly Environment Committee has now written to

Tolling agencies build resilience into highway operations

August 6, 2013

IBTTA executive director and CEO Patrick D. Jones looks at tolling’s resilience in an increasingly unpredictable and cash-strapped world. Turbulent times call for transportation agencies to move smarter. That’s why resilience and preparedness have become watchwords in every aspect of tollway operations. From having the financial resources to invest in construction, maintenance and roadway operations, to having up-to-date emergency plans and social media strategies to cope with severe weather, tolling agenci

Investment boost for Canada’s weather warning systems

August 5, 2013

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

Measuring the effectiveness of winter VMS

August 5, 2013

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 finds the right formula for winter maintenance

August 5, 2013

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

Texas gets expanded access to traffic camera images

July 30, 2013

TrafficLand video support and distribution services will expand availability to traffic video imagery for Texas commuters, media and public agencies. TrafficLand, US distributor of live traffic video, has reached an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for access to video images from the state’s traffic camera network. The agreement gives TrafficLand access to video images from more than 1,600 TxDOT traffic cameras located across Texas. TrafficLand will access the video through TxD

Mediamobile partners with TomTom on Germany’s first digital radio traffic service

July 29, 2013

German motorists can look forward to receiving traffic information over a data channel with 400 times the capacity of traditional RDS-TMC services, thanks to a partnership between Mediamobile and TomTom on the first nationwide traffic service to be broadcast over Germany’s digital radio network, Mediamobile’s V-Traffic Premium DAB. TomTom will provide the traffic content for the V-Traffic service, which is regarded as important in establishing digital radio as a new traffic data delivery channel for the aut

Travel times inform drivers’ diversion decisions

July 26, 2013

A study of the impact of travel time information on driver behaviour has come to some interesting conclusions, as Dean Deeter of Athey Creek Consultants explains. For some time road operators have been using dynamic message signs (DMS) to keep drivers informed of current road conditions. While it is known that drivers welcome the additional information, little has been known about the effect this information has on driver behaviour - until now that is. A survey undertaken by ENTERPRISE (Evaluating New TEch

Iteris on team to operate VDOT’s traffic operations centres

July 24, 2013

American ITS solutions provider Iteris has been selected as part of a team to operate, integrate, and provide innovative solutions for Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) five traffic operations centres. Iteris was chosen as a sub-contractor by Serco to provide traffic operators at two of VDOT’s five traffic centres and general engineering services as requested by Serco. The centres monitor traffic conditions via cameras and other technology, allowing them to provide traveller information on road

Indra to upgrade Curitiba’s ITS system

July 22, 2013

A consortium comprising Indra and its local partners Esteio and Dataprom is to install an integrated monitoring system, Sistema Integrado de Monitoramiento (SIM), for the Brazilian city of Curitiba. The US$19.7 million project will expand the urban traffic management solution that prioritises public transportation throughout the city and equip it with new intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and an operations support system (OSS) for the city’s fleet of 2,500 buses. The project also includes variable me