Skip to main content

McCain wins California DMS tech award

Company is long-term supplier of dynamic message signs to Caltrans
By Adam Hill June 4, 2021 Read time: 2 mins
McCain dynamic message signs: award winner

McCain's dynamic message signs (DMS) have been recognised by the California Transportation Foundation (CTF).

The portfolio won the CTF's Advanced Technology Program / Project of the Year Award for 2020. 

Part of the Swarco Group, McCain has been providing signs to California DoT (Caltrans) for 16 years.

Starting in 2017, Swarco/McCain worked closely with Caltrans District 11 in San Diego to introduce new DMS that incorporate Swarco's precision optic technology, which has just been recognised by CTF.

They have been deployed in Caltrans District 7 (Los Angeles) in 2019, Caltrans District 3 (Marysville/Sacramento) last year, and in San Jose City and at the San Jose Airport.

The company says its signage "offers greatly reduced power consumption" than other models, as well as lower operating costs and more sustainability.

It requires less power to drive the LEDs, "and by narrowing the angularity, the light is more focused and redirected toward the road which also results in less energy usage".

"By driving the LEDs at only 3-14% of their capacity, the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is greater than 15 years, eliminating the need for redundant drivers," McCain continues. "Power supplies are driven at only 30% of maximum rated wattage with all LEDs on full power."
 
Other CTF award winners included the 22-mile South Bay Bus Rapid Transit Project (2020 Bus Rapid Transit Project of the Year), which stretches from the southern part of San Diego County, near the Otay Mesa crossing of the US-Mexico border, to downtown San Diego.
 

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Smoothing the path to reducing traffic pollution
    October 22, 2014
    David Crawford reviews a new approach to traffic smoothing. A key objective for the Californian city of Bakersfield’s upgraded traffic operations centre (TOC), which opened in June 2014, is to help improve living conditions in a region with one of the worst air quality problems in the US. The TOC is speeding up the smoothing of traffic flows by delivering faster and better-informed traffic signal retiming and synchronisation.
  • Uber clean-up - those all-important facts and figures
    September 11, 2020
    Ride-hailing giant says it can switch to all-electric vehicles 'in any major city' by 2030
  • TST awarded signalling contract for shanghai automated metro line
    January 30, 2018
    Shanghai Shentong Metro Group has awarded Thales SEC Transport the signalling contract for the Fully Automated Operation (FAO) Line 14 of the City’s Metro. It will provide an integrated management system as well as signalling and supervision solutions with the intention of meeting the demand for metro transport capacity and alleviating traffic in the downtown area. The driverless and highly automated line is scheduled to enter service at the end of 2020.
  • California Transportation Foundation award for Parsons’ I-80 SMART Corridor Project
    June 9, 2017
    Parsons recently received the Operational Efficiency Project of the Year award from the California Transportation Foundation for the I-80 SMART Corridor Project that uses Parsons’ intelligent transportation system technology to maximise safety and efficiency of one of the busiest transportation corridors in the Bay Area of California.