Skip to main content

SESA supports MassDOT travel time network

SES America (SESA) has designed, engineered and manufactured over three hundred solar-powered embedded dynamic message signs (DMS) to be installed as part of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s (MassDOT)‘Go Time’ project. According to SESA, once completed, the project will provide the largest travel time network available in any state in the US, allowing motorists across the country to instantly access travel time data on major corridors across the region. Each site consists of static sig
April 6, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
7846 SES America (SESA) has designed, engineered and manufactured over three hundred solar-powered embedded dynamic message signs (DMS) to be installed as part of the 7213 Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s (MassDOT)‘Go Time’ project.

According to SESA, once completed, the project will provide the largest travel time network available in any state in the US, allowing motorists across the country to instantly access travel time data on major corridors across the region.

Each site consists of static sign panels with pre-determined destinations and travel time data for each destination displayed on DMS embedded within the static sign. The sites also contain Bluetooth readers for data collection, as well as wireless modems to send and receive the collected travel time data wirelessly.  The entire system is installed without the need for trenching and conduits to carry power and data cabling.

All components are powered from a single solar power system at each site, utilising multiple photovoltaic panels and a battery bank enclosed in an insulated cabinet to protect the batteries from heat and cold. SES America engineers designed and calculated the entire solar systems for each location which was then approved by Jacobs Engineering and MassDOT.

Related Content

  • December 5, 2018
    Dynamic messaging has its drawbacks
    Dynamic message signs are a proven means of getting information to drivers on the road – but they have their drawbacks. Robert Gordon looks at the possibilities of expanding DMS capability by bringing that information into the cars themselves Delivery of traffic information to motorists by dynamic message signs (DMS) has proven to be popular and is a principal tool for conveying information developed by the traffic management centre (TMC) to the public. There are, however, limitations in the use of ph
  • January 27, 2012
    Improving urban traffic control in Atlanta
    Hugh Colton, Georgia DOT details move to improve urban traffic control in the Atlanta area. With a significant proportion of traffic using freeways and toll-ways, along with a significant investment in roadway infrastructure, urban arterials are often the poor relation when it comes to ITS investment. Hitherto the primary means of Urban Traffic Control (UTC) has been the ubiquitous traffic signal. Many traffic signals still operate in a standalone mode and traffic detection is often broken, leaving the sign
  • August 21, 2017
    New Hampshire plans for tomorrow’s communication
    Someone once likened predicting the future to ‘nailing a jelly to the wall’. With ITS, C-ITS and V2X technology progressing at such a pace, predicting the future is more akin to trying to nail three jellies to the wall – but only having one nail. And yet with roadways having a lifetime measured in decades, that is exactly what highway engineers and traffic planners are expected to do. Fortunately, New Hampshire DoT (NHDoT) believes its technological advances may be able to provide a solution. The Central Ne
  • March 19, 2014
    Asking drivers what information they need: radical but effective
    When Texas A&M Transportation Institute was asked to devise a temporary traveller information system for work zones, it started by asking drivers what they need. Robert Brydia explains the thinking, implementation and results. US Interstate 35 (I-35) runs roughly north–south originating in Laredo, Texas and ends 1,500 miles away in Duluth, Minnesota having passed through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. Within Texas the I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W passing through Dallas and Fort Worth respectiv