Skip to main content

Infrastructure projects ‘should be software-ready as well as shovel-ready’

In his blog in The Hill, Siemens president of Infrastructure & Cities Sector, Daryl Dulaney claims that, while physical improvements to transportation systems are essential, more consideration needs to be given to incorporating more intelligent technologies. He claims, “Significant improvements in mobility can be made, with minimal investment as compared with large-scale physical transportation projects, by utilising intelligent transportation software in our cities and municipalities. Integrating the us
May 21, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
In his blog in The Hill, 189 Siemens president of Infrastructure & Cities Sector, Daryl Dulaney claims that, while physical improvements to transportation systems are essential, more consideration needs to be given to incorporating more intelligent technologies.

He claims, “Significant improvements in mobility can be made, with minimal investment as compared with large-scale physical transportation projects, by utilising intelligent transportation software in our cities and municipalities. Integrating the use of smart technology into a city transportation system can simplify modernisation without requiring cities to completely rebuild.”

He says it’s not only big systems or large urban areas that realise the impact software technology has on transportation and cites several projects in the US such as the improvements to the world's largest train control system in New York City, new electric computer-enhanced 2008 Amtrak locomotives and traffic-control software in Tyler, Texas, which has significantly reduced downtown congestion.

He concludes: “It’s hard to imagine a world in which we can gather information at the touch of a button, but our transportation infrastructure is operating on systems in place before the invention of the internet. Software can provide affordable, effective solutions that encourage economic growth, support city resiliency efforts, and help the US transportation system finally move into the 21st century.”
UTC

Related Content

  • August 21, 2017
    Cost benefit goes under the microscope
    Conventional cost benefit analysis (CBA) of plans for urban smart mobility initiatives needs serious rethinking, according to a recently-completed European study. The three-year Evidence Project (the Project) emerged in response to concerns about the availability and quality of documented research – including CBA – required to prove that investment in sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) can be economically beneficial. Covering 22 sectors ranging from electric vehicles to shared spaces, the Project clai
  • January 20, 2012
    Infrastructure spending is an investment in economic recovery
    Transportation funding is caught in the crossfire as the President calls for infrastructure investment and a reinvigorated Republican majority in the House pushes back on federal spending. Andrew Bardin Williams reports. Every few months some politician or pundit declares that the country is on the verge of making the most important political decision in a generation. The 2006 mid-term election; the 2008 Presidential election; the passing of the stimulus bill; healthcare reform; the mania surrounding Tea Pa
  • May 12, 2023
    Ukraine’s ITS in a time of war
    Following invasion by Russia, work on ITS projects has stopped in Ukraine – but the state road agency and private contractors have pivoted to providing essential services instead
  • January 25, 2012
    US closer to finalising a new reauthorisation bill
    Pete Goldin talks with ITS America about the continuing efforts of US Congress to finalise a transportation reauthorisation bill and how this will impact the ITS industry