Air Quality & Weather Systems

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

The Ohio State Highway Patrol (OHSP) and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) are to partner in traffic safety initiative in a bid to change driver behaviour and reverse the upward trend of traffic deaths in the state, which has recorded 76 more deaths in the period to June 2015 than in the same period last year. The initiative will use the 130 ODOT digital message boards visible above highways across the state and will rotate between the year-to-date number of traffic deaths of 2015 and traffic

The electronic highway signage system and field devices that provide real-time travel information for the 300,000 daily users of New York’s George Washington Bridge are to undergo a major overhaul in a US$65.1 millio0n project. The Port Authority of New York has approved the project to replace the intelligent transportation system (ITS) which includes the upgrade and replacement of 11 existing variable message signs and the installation of seven new ones; the installation of a new overhead sign structure