Skip to main content

VDOT to get world-class transportation operations centre

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has issued a Notice of Intent to Award to Serco to integrate and run the state’s five transportation management centres under a six-year, US$355 million contract. The Commonwealth Transportation Board will make the final decision at its June meeting. The project will operate all five centres, including managing the Safety Service Patrol, under a single advanced active traffic management system platform, providing greater consistency and efficiency and enabli
May 8, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The 1747 Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has issued a Notice of Intent to Award  to Serco to integrate and run the state’s five transportation management centres under a six-year, US$355 million contract. The Commonwealth Transportation Board will make the final decision at its June meeting.

The project will operate all five centres, including managing the Safety Service Patrol, under a single advanced active traffic management system platform, providing greater consistency and efficiency and enabling VDOT to better manage congestion, freight movements, incidents, severe weather-related incidents and traveller information.

The system will monitor traffic through the use of nearly 900 cameras, 500 electronic message signs and more than 1,000 road sensors, enabling operators to co-ordinate signal systems, manage incidents and emergency response, provide real time travel information and manage HOV/reversible lanes.

Announcing the award, Governor McDonnell said: "The Commonwealth sought innovation from around the country to deliver the best technology solutions to maximise our transportation system. Virginia is a leader among state departments of transportation in providing real-time traffic information to motorists, and we wanted to build on that reputation."

Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton added, "The result is using technology to be the eyes, ears and voice of Virginia's road transportation system, so we can go into immediate action to prevent accidents, clear incidents, make our roads safer, and immediately inform motorists so they can reach their destinations faster. Our transportation system in Virginia must be more reliable than other states' and countries in order for us to remain competitive economically."

"I am very pleased with the progress VDOT has made in collaborating with the private industry to develop the best solutions to improve transportation through technology," said VDOT Commissioner Greg Whirley. "It takes all tools and methods, including technology, operations, and first-class communication systems, in addition to maintenance and construction to make our highway system operate as smoothly as possible."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Preparing for unpredictable precipitation
    August 18, 2015
    ITS solutions are helping streamline winter road maintenance for Delaware and Illinois, two states that must deal with dynamic weather and varying snowfall totals. Andrew Bardin Williams reports. Wilmington and Newark (pronounced new-ark) are two vastly different cities that sit on opposite ends of Delaware. Newark is a sleepy university town of roughly 30,000 residents abutting the state’s western border with Maryland and Pennsylvania, and often gets confused with its larger namesake in New Jersey.
  • Six easy steps to security
    October 22, 2018
    As security threats become increasingly vast and varied, multinationals are beginning to see the need for an effective global security operations centre to protect their organisation. James I. Chong spells out what is required. You know you need a global security operations centre (GSOC) to support what you’ve built, identify threats, and prevent disasters before they happen - but how do you know if it’s truly effective? There’s no shortage of information coming into operation centres. Too often, it’s the
  • Bitsensing makes modern history in fair Verona
    July 3, 2025
    Shakespeare’s Verona was a place of star-cross’d lovers – today, it’s the traffic which is more of a problem. Euichul Kim at Bitsensing takes up our story…
  • Hikvision maximises safety with smart video technology
    September 12, 2022
    Around the world, thousands of people are injured or killed in road traffic accidents every day. To maximise safety for motorists and other road users, cities and highways authorities are implementing smart video solutions that alert emergency teams when an accident occurs in real time – supporting faster responses and potentially saving lives, says Juan Sádaba, ITS business development manager at Hikvision Spain