Charging, Tolling & RUC

The 42nd annual ASECAP study and information days, to be held in Athens from 26 to 278 May 2014, will explore the role of the tolled roads in ensuring sustainability in times of dwindling traffic. It will allow high-level panellists representing toll road infrastructure operators, EU decision-makers and ministers to discuss sustainability issues related to infrastructure financing, operation, maintenance, safety and the environment, while considering how intelligent transport systems contribute to the achie

One of Queensland’s highest priority road infrastructure projects has been secured for the state, with the federal and Queensland governments announcing they will deliver the long-awaited tolled Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC). Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss called for the private sector to register interest in building the project. He said: “The registration process will move to a formal expression of interest stage over the next cou

The regional European Electronic Toll Services (EETS) initiative is about to be kick-started by over US$3 million of co-financing from the European Union TEN-T Program. A a series of studies aimed at deploying EETS on a cross-border regional scale, selected for funding under the 2012 TEN-T multi-annual programme, specifically cover the electronically tolled primary road network of seven member states: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, and Switzerland, which receives no EU suppor

The long-awaited US$420 million direct connection between I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike has moved closer to reality with the approval of a US$155 million section of the work. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission has approved one section at a cost of US$155 million to allow the work to start in June, with completion targeted for 2018. The project will open to tender on 24 April 2014 and will involve widening and reconstructing about four miles of the turnpike where the connection with I-

As part of a US$7.2 million E-ZPass system upgrade, the cameras in E-ZPass lanes across New Hampshire are capturing the licence plates of all vehicles as they pass through the lanes. The devices have brighter, more visible LED flashes, and capture front and rear licence plates. The new systems have been installed in E-ZPass toll lanes within the last two months. They feature a better violation detection system and also upgraded technology that ensure vehicles that pass through the tolls match the vehicl

Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) is planning the construction of some 380 kilometres of new roads in 2014, along with a 600 kilometre expansion of the network of roads which will become part of the electronic toll system, viaToll. As a step towards implementing intelligent transportation systems in the country, GDDKiA plans to hire a national traffic management consultant to support it in implementing new projects.

The acquisition of US advanced traffic management software and systems integration company Transdyn, well-known for its Dynac advanced traffic management software, enables Kapsch TrafficCom to offer an extended end-to-end product and solution portfolio for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to its current and future customers around the globe. The purchase price is US$16 million. Kapsch TrafficCom says it is now positioned to offer one a broad portfolio of intelligent transportation solutions to co

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has released the first draft of its five-year MassDOT Capital Investment Plan (CIP) for FY2014-FY2018. The US$12.4 billion program makes long-term investments and represents the first unified, multi-modal capital investment plan covering all MassDOT highway and municipal projects, regional airports, rail and transit, including the MBTA and Regional Transit Authorities. The proposal, which must be approved the state's Department of Transportation

USDOT has released its new ITS ePrimer, a web-based textbook on intelligent transportation systems, providing transportation professionals, educators, students, and others with a series of up-to-date, web-based modules describing key ITS topics, with a multi-modal perspective. The ITS ePrimer replaces the Intelligent Transportation Primer first published in 2000 in collaboration with the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and ITS America. Public and private agencies and educational institutions

David Crawford examines the political and industrial background to the tolling technology debate. Saving the US State of California ‘millions of dollars’ in tolling infrastructure costs by encouraging new technologies is the professed aim of a legislative Bill, SB 242, which is currently moving through the State’s Senate (upper house) process. According to its sponsor, Republican State Senator Mark Wyland, permitting alternatives to the current FasTrak-branded radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based sys