Skip to main content

MDOT recognised for ITS technology leadership

Two high-tech projects championed by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) have been recognised by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) with ITS America's Best of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Awards. MDOT earned an award in the Best New Innovative Practice-Partnership Deployment category for its automatic vehicle location (AVL) and maintenance decision support system (MDSS) project and was a finalist in another category, Best New Innovative Practice-Susta
September 18, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Two high-tech projects championed by the 1688 Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) have been recognised by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (560 ITS America) with ITS America's Best of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Awards.

MDOT earned an award in the Best New Innovative Practice-Partnership Deployment category for its automatic vehicle location (AVL) and maintenance decision support system (MDSS) project and was a finalist in another category, Best New Innovative Practice-Sustainability in Transportation, for its I-94 truck parking information and management system (TPIMS) project. In addition, the department won a Best Technical Paper award for a white paper it submitted on the TPIMS project. The recognition was bestowed upon MDOT at the 6456 ITS World Congress held in Detroit Sept. 7-11.

"I'm thrilled that MDOT employees, long national leaders in innovation, are being recognized for finding efficiencies through leveraging technology," said State Transportation director Kirk T. Steudle. "I'm confident MDOT employees' passion for doing things safer, smarter, faster and cheaper will lead to even more breakthroughs in intelligent transportation."

AVL uses GPS (Global Positioning System) to enable MDOT to remotely track the location of its vehicle fleet through a web interface and allows MDOT to efficiently and effectively deploy snowploughs and track winter maintenance activities. MDSS is an automated decision-support tool for road maintenance supervisors. It is a multi-layered, information system that provides forecasts, predictions, reports on observed weather and road conditions, serves as a training tool, and serves as a management support system that MDOT uses year-round.

MDOT's TPIMS project was unveiled earlier this month to assess truck parking availability along the I-94 corridor in southwest Michigan and deliver real-time parking availability information to truck drivers. MDOT is using a number of high-tech methods to share parking availability information, including dynamic roadside truck parking signs, website and smartphone applications, and a fleet of pilot trucks equipped with on-board connected vehicle equipment.

Related Content

  • March 28, 2013
    Kapsch highlights CVO capabilities of its 5.9GHz DSRC technology
    Kapsch TrafficCom will appear at the 23rd ITS America Annual Meeting with an important recent validation of the versatility of its 5.9 GHz DSRC multi-modal, integrated and interoperable technologies. Earlier this month, the company announced it had been selected by HNTB and the Michigan DOT (MDOT) to deliver a Truck Parking Connected-Vehicle System at five sites along the I-94 corridor in Michigan.
  • April 29, 2013
    ITS America 2013 best of ITS awards announced
    Winners of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) 2013 Best of ITS Awards were announced during the opening plenary session of the 23rd ITS America annual meeting and exposition. This highly competitive program which recognises the most innovative projects and influential achievements in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industry, and winners included, for best innovative product: Intelligent Transportation System Facility Management, Florida Department of Transportation
  • November 11, 2014
    Arkansas opts for ClearPath winter weather forecasting
    The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) has selected Iteris’ cloud-based maintenance decision support system (MDSS), ClearPath Weather, to provide state-wide weather forecasting services for improved winter road maintenance response. ClearPath Weather will provide AHTD with web-based access to high-resolution pavement weather forecasting and treatment alternatives at designated locations around the state during winter weather events. Additionally, AHTD will have available use of I
  • October 22, 2014
    Bespoke ITS is helping to reduced collisions on America’s rural roads
    David Crawford cherrypicks conference and award highlights Almost 30% of all US citizens live in rural areas or very small communities, and 34 of the 50 states exceed this level in their own populations, with the proportions rising as high as 85%. And although rural routes carry only 35% of all traffic, the accidents that occur on them account for some 54% of all US road traffic accident deaths.