News

Advanced traveller information system (ATIS) solutions provider Iteris successfully disseminated real-time actionable traveller information to residents and travellers in Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia during the record-breaking storm that brought up to 40 inches of snow in parts of the US East Coast. A snapshot of Iteris’ system dissemination statistics showed that: Telephone calls to the 511 phone system increased 231 per cent; Website user sessions surged by 1,210 per cent; Mobile ap

The Western Road Usage Charge Consortium (WRUCC) of the US has appointed sustainable transportation funding specialist D’Artagnan to develop a roadmap for states to consider road usage charges. Eleven WRUCC member states will collaborate to study and adapt best practices from successful road usage charge efforts around the globe Road usage charging (RUC) has grown in popularity in recent years among state government officials in search of long-term solutions to address declining gas tax revenues. However, t

Danish regional energy and fibre broadband provider EnergiMidt and Swiss technology company Paradox Engineering are to partner on the development of innovative smart city networks and provide advanced services to public sector and private business customers in Denmark. The two companies are already collaborating on a smart lighting and smart parking pilot project in the village of Almind, in the community of Viborg, Denmark, to test both smart lighting and smart parking solutions to evaluate possible extens

Four cities have been awarded significant funds to promote green vehicle technology after successfully bidding for a share of a multi-million pot created to support the take-up of plug-in electric cars across the UK. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced the winners of the Go Ultra Low City Scheme, after the successful cities proposed a number of initiatives to support greener vehicles as part of a government competition.

Innovation and excellence will be rewarded at Intertraffic 2016, 5-8 April in Amsterdam, when the winners of the 2016 Intertraffic Innovation Awards will be announced. An international jury has scrutinised 91 potential candidates and after careful analysis and intense consideration has shortlisted 15 final entries. Awards will be presented in five categories – Infrastructure, Traffic Management, Safety, Parking, and Smart Mobility. One of these five winners will then be chosen as the overall winner of the 2

San Francisco’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has allocated US$494 million to help more than 20 Bay Area transit agencies replace or rehabilitate aging buses, ferries, rail cars, tracks and bridges; update safety, control and communications systems; install new fare-collection equipment; maintain services for elderly and disabled passengers; and make other capital improvements. The commitment includes US$447 million of federal transportation funds, supplemented by US$47 million of revenues fr

In the wake of the VW emissions scandal in late 2015, the European Commission has published its proposed revision of vehicle type approval legislation. In a clear effort towards reform, the Commission calls for market surveillance for vehicles after their release. The proposal increases the oversight of type approval authorities and introduces regular checks from independent market surveillance authorities.

A new report from IDTechEx Research, Printed and Flexible Electronics in Automotive Applications 2016-2026, indicates that the market for printed and flexible electronics in vehicles is expected to grow to over US$5.5 billion dollars in the next decade, spearheaded by the projected growth of in-mould electronics and OLED technologies. Printed and flexible electronics are beginning to proliferate, with a variety of components and devices coming to market. Several end-user verticals are expected to benefit

Jacobs Engineering Group is to provide the Welsh Government with technical advisory services for the upgrade of sections 5 and 6 of the A465 between Dowlais Top and Hirwaun. The A465 is a key transport link in Wales and forms part of the trans-European transport network. It is an important strategic route for the urban area of South Wales, providing routes between key settlements. It connects South and West Wales to the Midlands and beyond, to ports serving Ireland, and to other European destinations.

NaviSite Europe is to provide engineering solutions provider Costain with its NaviSite hybrid cloud hosting services to support the roll out of its complex Electronic Service Delivery for Abnormal Loads (ESDAL) application for Highways England. UK legislation requires highways authorities, structure owners and the police to be notified of vehicles and their loads exceeding standard dimensions. Costain developed the ESDAL application to automate this process and worked with NaviSite to provide a secure a

The City of Los Angeles is piloting a new transportation app in partnership with Xerox in an effort to provide travellers with optimised transportation choices to simplify urban mobility in the second largest metro area in the US. The Go LA app aggregates and calculates the time, cost, carbon footprint and health benefits from walking, cycling, driving your own car, parking, taking public transit, as well the emerging private transportation options, such as Lyft, Zipcar, FlitWays and Uber, giving users a

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has welcomed the Department for Transport’s (DfT) public consultation on stricter penalties for using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving. The DfT is looking for feedback on proposals for increasing the fixed penalty notice level from £100 to £150 for all drivers. It also invites views on increasing the penalty points from three to four points for non-HGV drivers, and three to six points for those that hold a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) licence and commit t

The London Borough of Camden has installed two Swarco Prism signs at either end of a width-restricted road in a bid to curb drivers using the road to avoid congestion during peak periods. The signs are timed to change at peak periods of day to create a short one-way section and ease traffic flow. Outside these hours, priority working signs manage the narrow stretch of road. The signs include integrated PC controls, which enable operators to remotely control and alter the timing of the switchover as req

With London’s roads seeing an increase in congestion due to a construction boom and a significant growth in population, Transport for London is investing heavily in helping keep the roads moving through a range of means. Part of this programme is designed to help buses get through congested areas quicker and more reliably. A US$284 million investment in new bus priority schemes in the capital includes changes to road layouts and junctions and enabling small changes to routes so that buses can avoid traff

New data published by transport Scotland indicates that accident and casualty rates on the A9 have fallen dramatically in the first year of operation of the new average speed cameras. From the beginning of November 2014 to October 2015, two fewer people have been killed and 16 fewer people have been seriously injured between Dunblane and Inverness, while the number of ‘fatal and serious accidents’ between the two towns is down by almost 59 per cent, with ‘fatal and serious casualties’ down by approximat