Air Quality & Weather Systems

Jonathan Raper, managing director of the TransportAPI talks to Colin Sowman about the benefits open data can bring to the public transport sector. That the digital revolution would change the world, including transport, was never in doubt but the question has always been: how? Now, with the ‘Millennium Bug’ relegated to a question on quiz shows, the potential and challenges of digital technology are starting to take shape - and Jonathan Raper is in the vanguard. Raper is managing director of the open data t

Glasgow City Council and West Dunbartonshire Council have awarded a joint contract to Siemens to maintain roadside traffic control and information equipment for a period of up to five years, commencing 1 August 2015. The new contract includes the provision of associated ancillary support services, as well as the supply of works and services to support the Councils’ traffic control operation and periodical planned signal and optical maintenance, With equipment at over 500 traffic signal intersections and

Refurbishing old dynamic message signs can save money and increase technical capabilities as David Crawford discovers. Evidence is growing on both sides of the Atlantic of the scope for retrofitting old or technically out-of-date dynamic message signs (DMS) with new electronic equipment, to save on the costs of installing full-scale replacements. In the last four months of 2014, a number of US states progressed programmes that achieved savings of more than US$1.75 million (€1.56million).

Sri Lanka has recently opened the new highway traffic management system (HTMS), implemented by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, (MHI) on the country’s Southern Expressway. The installation is the country's first full-scale system of its kind, and it is expected to contribute significantly to improved safety and reduced congestion on a local expressway. The expressway, which opened in 2013, stretches 120 kilometres from Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka, to Matara. Construction work was performed under

A report entitled Air pollution: the cost of inaction, published in July by the French Senate Committee of Enquiry estimates the annual cost of air pollution in France at €101.3 billion ($110 trillion), according to EurActiv France. The committee has described air pp0llution as an ‘economic aberration’ and has proposed measured including raising the tax on diesel and taxing emissions of the worst polluting substances. While overall air pollution has fallen in recent years, "the nature of the pollution

The Balfour Beatty Vinci joint venture has been awarded a contract by Highways England to deliver a smart motorway package worth up to US$792 million, the largest of Highways England’s three packages within its US$2.3 billion Smart Motorway Programme. The joint venture will deliver smart motorway upgrades to a ten mile stretch of the M5 Junctions 4a to 6 in Worcestershire; a 12 mile section of the M6 Junctions 2 to 4 in the Midlands and a 32 mile stretch of the M4 Junctions 3 to 12 in London and Berkshir

Swarco has installed a new dynamic parking guidance system in the city of Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany, in an effort to achieve a more efficient usage of the existing parking facilities in the city. Eight parking lots are integrated into the system, which features an open parking capability to detect vehicles entering and leaving cars via video technology. The system also includes 29 LCD variable message signs (VMS), five of which feature two-line information displays to display local event information.

SES America, under contract with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC), has successfully installed and commissioned the first full colour walk-in dynamic message sign in the state of Rhode Island. The sign is part of SESA’s Messenger 6000 family of highly energy efficient signs and will be used by the Airport Corporation to display information related to airport traffic, parking and public advisories. With its large size, high resolution, and ability to display both text and graphics, the sign will im

Draft regulations to introduce variable mandatory speed limits as part of the planned smart motorway upgrade to 18 and a half miles of the M6 in Cheshire were published this week for consultation with key stakeholders. Highways England is planning to start construction work on the US$299 to US$427 million project between junction 16 at Crewe and junction 19 at Knutsford later this year. The hard shoulder will be converted into a permanent extra running lane and smart motorway technology installed to give

French technology group Lacroix has recently made two strategic acquisitions, enabling it to expand its international presence, to develop in the smart cities sector and to capitalise on new growth areas. The acquisition of Spanish company DSTA enabled Lacroix to expand its offering in variable message signs, traffic signals and public transport information panels, making it more competitive while providing its customers with proven end-to-end technological solutions. By acquiring SOGEXI, the French s