Skip to main content

Open Roads collaborates with Virginia DOT on the 495 Express Lanes project

Opened on 17 November, the fourteen-mile corridor of new high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in Northern Virginia from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road on the Virginia side of the Capital Beltway provides drivers with a faster, more predictable trip on the Capital Beltway. The 495 Express Lanes project supported more than 16,000 jobs and generated nearly US$3.5 billion of economic impact state-wide. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) provider Open Roads Consulting (Open R
December 11, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Opened on 17 November, the fourteen-mile corridor of new high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes  in Northern Virginia from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road on the Virginia side of the Capital Beltway provides drivers with a faster, more predictable trip on the Capital Beltway. The 495 Express Lanes project supported more than 16,000 jobs and generated nearly US$3.5 billion of economic impact state-wide.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) provider 5660 Open Roads Consulting (Open Roads) collaborated with the 1747 Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and roads operator 600 Transurban to develop an interface that integrates the 495 Express Lanes Transportation Management System (TMS) and the Northern Virginia Public Safety and Transportation Operations Center (PSTOC) Advanced Transportation Management System.

The system, OpenTMS Enterprise System, was developed and deployed by Open Roads. The interface is designed to share different types of data between the two systems: incidents, work zones, DMS (dynamic message sign), traffic sensor, travel time, and weather station data.  Open Roads worked closely with VDOT and Transurban to define the system interface requirements, software functional requirements, current user interface to incorporate the HOT lanes information for use by the PSTOC management and staff. VDOT and Open Roads have made tremendous efforts to create situational awareness to deliver improved safety and travel times to the motoring public in the region.

Governor Bob McDonnell participated in an opening event celebration in Tysons Corner with elected officials, media and key project personnel to commemorate the opening of the new traffic solution. He commented that the opening of the 495 Express Lanes means opportunity for Virginia as the project not only helped create jobs during construction, but will continue to make Northern Virginia a more attractive place to work and live. He also stated that the Express Lanes will open the region for business by providing better access to key employer centers and delivering the infrastructure needed to grow businesses and create additional jobs.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Aberdeen and Zagreb win EU sustainable mobility awards
    March 12, 2013
    The European Commission has announced the winners of the 2012 Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) Award and the European Mobility Week (EMW) Award. Aberdeen and Zagreb were presented with their awards by European Commissioners Siim Kallas and Janez Potočnik at a joint award ceremony in Brussels, Belgium on 6 March. Aberdeen took the top honour in the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans Award ahead of two other finalists, Ljutomer, Slovenia and Toulouse, France. Aberdeen is a city of around 220,000 inhabita
  • Open communication platform to support cooperative infrastructure
    July 23, 2012
    Within the European Commission's CVIS project, work is going on to shrink the open vehicle communication platform to make it more market-ready and to remove barriers to the creation of appropriate applications by those external to the project. Here, ERTICO's Zeljko Jeftic and Paul Kompfner and Q-Free's Knut Evensen discuss progress. Development of the open communication platform which will support the various applications developed by the European Commission's (EC's) Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Syste
  • Kenya WIM system cuts four days off journey times
    March 18, 2014
    Shem Oirere looks at how weigh-in-motion is helping to streamline the trucking industry in Kenya. Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, is streamlining trucking operations on its section of the 8,800km Northern Corridor. It is both reducing the number of weighbridges and automating the remaining ones in an effort to improve efficiency and eliminate corruption.The Northern Corridor is a major gateway through Kenya to the landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sou
  • Ohio DoT to use Inrix data to clear roads after major storms
    July 24, 2012
    Inrix will collaborate with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODoT) to use the company’s traffic information and cloud-based analytics to further the state’s goal of clearing roads statewide within three hours after major storms. “Restoring travel to normal conditions as quickly as possible not only improves public safety but keeps people and commerce moving across the state,” said Ted Trepanier, senior director of public sector, Inrix. “We’re providing Ohio with an objective, data-driven approach for