Skip to main content

TransCore wins contract on new HOV to Express lane conversion

California’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has launched the first phase of its 290km conversion of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to Express Lanes, or commonly known as high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, with TransCore serving as lead integrator for the project. The US$11.8 million programme comes at a crucial time in Silicon Valley as it prepares for an expected 38 per cent growth in population over the next 20 years and funding for transportation improvements is projected to grow at
April 3, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSCalifornia’s 1791 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has launched the first phase of its 290km conversion of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to Express Lanes, or commonly known as high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, with 139 Transcore serving as lead integrator for the project. The US$11.8 million programme comes at a crucial time in Silicon Valley as it prepares for an expected 38 per cent growth in population over the next 20 years and funding for transportation improvements is projected to grow at only a fraction of that amount.

VTA is implementing the Silicon Valley Express Lanes programme to provide congestion relief in one of its major Bay Area commuter corridors. As part of the programme, the SR 237, U.S. 101, SR 85 and parts of I-680 corridor will convert the existing HOV lanes to express lanes.

The first phase of the project focused on the intersect of the major north to south interstate I-880, from Oakland south into San Jose, with SR 237, the east to west freeway. Carpools as well as clean air vehicles, motorcycles, and transit buses will continue to use the lanes free of charge. Express Lane fees will be collected electronically using the radio frequency identification (RFID)-based electronic toll collection technology already in use on the San Francisco Bay Area Bridges and elsewhere in California. Enforcement will be provided by the 1855 California Highway Patrol.

“TransCore’s traffic engineering experience combined with our knowledge implementing every aspect of electronic toll collection, from system integration to manufacturing RFID technology, allowed us to tackle challenging design aspects that VTA faced and develop a solution that addresses the traffic concerns experienced in this corridor,” explained Michael Mauritz, TransCore managing director for the Western region.

Nationally, TransCore has supported HOT lane deployments on America’s first HOT installation on I-15 in San Diego as well as Houston Metro’s deployment earlier in the year, Miami’s I-95 Express, Seattle’s SR 167, and Salt Lake City’s I-15.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Russia's high speed toll link - aims and opportunities
    July 31, 2012
    Construction of a new toll link between the Russian capital of Moscow and the country's second-largest city, the port of St Petersburg, is due to start in 2012. Here, ITS International takes look at the project to date and the opportunities for foreign companies to get involved. The construction of a new toll link between the Russian capital Moscow and the country's second-largest city St Petersburg has a number of aims. It will lead to the creation of a high-speed vehicular link between the two which will
  • US Cities push for smarter poles
    June 25, 2018
    US Cities The need to connect existing infrastructure has led various US transit authorities into imaginative alleyways: David Crawford examines some new roles for street furniture. US cities are vying with each other in developing schemes to create a new generation of connected places. Their strategies include taking advantage of their streetlight poles’ height and ubiquity to give them new roles in supporting intelligent nodes. They are now being equipped for collecting real-time data on key transport
  • New research finds distracted driving on the rise on I-95
    May 12, 2014
    Transurban-Fluor and AAA Mid-Atlantic have released the second annual report on distracted drivers on I-95 in Northern Virginia, which found that despite major construction, distracted driving is a growing problem on the heavily travelled corridor. The report, part of the Orange Cones, No Phones campaign focused on reducing distracted driving in the 95 Express Lanes construction zone, found that the number of frequent I-95 drivers likely to use their cell phone while driving has increased from 56 percent i
  • Solar-powered traffic detection improves communication
    January 31, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on a new wireless, solar-powered traffic detection system being used by Caltrans District 12. As more and more traffic data is necessary to satisfy the needs of traffic management centres and traveller information systems, and as traffic detection technology becomes more ubiquitous, transportation authorities are pressured to find more economical ways of expanding their detection systems. Caltrans District 12 is leading this push by deploying the latest detection system from Case Global