Skip to main content

TransCore to design and build I-66 active traffic management system

One of the most congested interstates in Virginia, US, is to get an Active Traffic Management (ATM) system. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has selected TransCore, a division of Roper Industries, to design and build its I-66 ATM system on northern Virginia’s main highway into the District of Columbia. The US$34 million contract is 90 percent federally funded and will support thirty-four miles of highway from the District of Columbia to Gainesville US-29 in Prince William County. The projec
February 15, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
One of the most congested interstates in Virginia, US, is to get an Active Traffic Management (ATM) system.  The 1747 Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has selected 139 Transcore, a division of 7018 Roper Industries, to design and build its I-66 ATM system on northern Virginia’s main highway into the District of Columbia.

The US$34 million contract is 90 percent federally funded and will support thirty-four miles of highway from the District of Columbia to Gainesville US-29 in Prince William County. The project is scheduled to be operational by the fall of 2014.

Due to limited right-of-way and construction funding, employing active traffic management technology can optimise mobility along the corridor by more effectively managing the congested conditions and increase safety, and reduce fuel consumption.

The active traffic management system will continuously monitor traffic and roadway conditions around the clock, collecting data using roadway monitoring equipment such as vehicle detection sensors and closed-circuit television cameras. The system will use such techniques as lane control signal systems, adaptive ramp metering, enhanced detection and camera systems, lane management systems, and queue warning systems. Active traffic management systems have been used throughout Europe for the last decade, but Transcore says this is a relatively new concept in the United States.

Benefits of the I-66 ATM system for motorists include: dynamic message and lane control signing advising motorists of incidents and delays by providing direction on lanes that are usable, and guidance on merging traffic; expanded use of shoulder lanes regardless of time of day in response to incidents and to manage traffic; improved monitoring of the roadway to provide quicker response by transportation, safety and law enforcement personnel.

TransCore, serving as prime contractor, will provide turnkey ITS design, construction, integration and testing services for the program. Once complete, operation of the system will be managed by the Virginia DOT Public Safety Transportation Operations Center.

“TransCore remains at the forefront of providing the most innovative intelligent transportation systems to improve trip reliability and maximise roadway capacity across our nation’s infrastructure,” commented Tim Fischer, TransCore’s senior vice president. “We’re pleased to support VDOT as it undertakes such a signature ITS project in the country."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Low-costs solutions to improve pedestrian safety
    May 8, 2015
    David Crawford welcomes low-cost safety initiatives for pedestrians in America. Some 10 people die each week in accidents on crosswalks in the US, that’s more than 10% of all pedestrian fatalities in road traffic incidents - the number of which is running at a five-year high. Ensuring crosswalks are safe is key in supporting the growing enthusiasm for walking as a travel mode. In the last decade of the 20th century, numbers walking to work in the US fell by 26%; while, as recently as 2012, Americans were e
  • Making the case for interstate tolling
    May 30, 2014
    A provision in the Grow America Act, introduced to Congress last month by Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, proposes lifting a decades-old ban on tolling existing interstate general purpose lanes. According Daniel Papiernik, HNTB Corporation's mid-Atlantic toll services leader, writing in Roll Call, recent opposition to the proposal is short-sighted. He claims that relying on revenues derived from the gas tax is simply an unsustainable way of funding the nation’s aging roads, bridges and tunnels
  • Public transport operators implement passenger safety systems
    December 4, 2012
    Operators of public transport systems are arming themselves with sophisticated systems of technology to ward off terrorism threats to passenger safety. David Crawford reports. City transportation authorities worldwide are looking more keenly than ever for mass transit solutions to overcome traffic congestion and manage commuter flows. As they do so, concerns over passenger security are driving development of new technologies for terrorist incident detection, response and emergency passenger evacuation. The
  • City of Seattle implements SCOOT adaptive traffic management
    May 2, 2017
    Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has implemented a new adaptive traffic control system at 32 intersections along Mercer Street between 3rd Ave W and I-5, which has been one of the city’s most congested corridors for over 40 years. Developed by the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, the SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique) system coordinates the operation of the traffic signals in and around the corridor to help vehicles move more efficiently. SCOOT works in real-time to reduce delay