Skip to main content

Texas receives national transportation award

ITS America has awarded the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) a Smart Solution Spotlight Award for a new web-based tool that allows truck owners to self-issue the permits and routes they need to move oversize and overweight loads on the state’s highway system. The Smart Solution Spotlight award is made to companies and organisations that use innovative technology to create a safer, cleaner, more efficient and sustainable transportation system. The
September 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
560 ITS America has awarded the 6524 Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) and the 375 Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) a Smart Solution Spotlight Award for a new web-based tool that allows truck owners to self-issue the permits and routes they need to move oversize and overweight loads on the state’s highway system.

The Smart Solution Spotlight award is made to companies and organisations that use innovative technology to create a safer, cleaner, more efficient and sustainable transportation system.

The Texas Permitting and Routing Optimization System (TxPros) earned the award in recognition of its use of “smart” technology to improve service, save time and resources and keep loads and motorists safe.

Trucks carrying loads that are taller, longer, wider or heavier than legal limits must get a permit and, for many loads, a route from the TxDMV that avoids obstacles such as low overpasses, or bridges and roads that could be damaged by the load. TxPros is the first system to generate a route in real time using GIS, along with a map and turn-by-turn driving instructions, customised to the size and weight of the load.

TxPros allows trucking companies to apply for oversize/overweight permits, pay the fees, and route their trucks on the best roads for a load’s size and weight, all online, 24/7. The system is said to be the first of its kind in the US and so easy to use that customers have self-issued more than half of all permits since its launch in August 2011.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • AVs and bombs: a sinister possibility
    November 6, 2019
    Vehicle-ramming attacks by terrorists on pedestrians – often involving multiple fatalities - are sobering reminders of how cars and vans can be used for ill. But a recent court case in the UK highlights a sinister use of newer technology
  • Magway plots retail delivery revolution
    May 8, 2020

    While most of the debate around hyperloop focuses on the potential for passenger traffic, technology firms are also exercised about how to respond to the fast-changing nature of the retail sector.

    One such company is the UK-based start-up Magway, co-founded in 2017 by former South African mining engineer Rupert Cruise and retail and technology consultant Phill Davies.

    In short, Magway moves goods from warehouses to distribution centres – or to new residential or commercial hubs - through small, high-density polyethylene pipes in pods driven by linear synchronous motors.

  • Making ITS connections requires leadership
    January 23, 2020
    From making the commute more bearable to saving the planet, Jim Alfred of BlackBerry Certicom believes that ITS has the capacity to drive a range of transformational opportunities – but leadership is required, he warns
  • How ITS weathers the storm on I-80
    September 7, 2021
    Weather-related closures on Wyoming’s I-80 can cost as much as $11.7m each. But a new initiative is harnessing V2X technology to prevent snow shutting things down