News

Ohio Operation Lifesaver, which aims end collisions, deaths and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and along railroad rights of way, has been awarded a US$20,000 grant from Operation Lifesaver (OLI) in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The state program will use the funding to spread “See Tracks? Think Train!” safety messages via radio, movie theatre advertising, digital media outreach and community events. The focus of the program will be the greater Cleveland area. The

Launched in time for the summer holiday season, Collision Call is a new app which automatically calls and alerts emergency services after a serious collision and sends an e-mail to family, work and friends, allowing them to take immediate action. The app measures G-forces which occur during a collision. If those forces exceed a certain level, dangerous to humans, the app automatically calls the alarm number in the relevant country and sends e-mails to programmed contacts. To prevent this from happening w

Texeira Duarte has awarded Indra a contract for the design, installation and commissioning of intelligent traffic systems (ITS), control and communications for the Marao tunnel, currently under construction and which, spanning close to 6 km, is said to be the longest in Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, Indra will also implement its tunnel control technology for the tunnel of the Mashhad Metro Line 2 in Iran. The global value of these contracts for Indra is more than US$8 million Indra

Police in Lithuania have begun installing average speed cameras on a five kilometre section of the Via Baltica highway, according to the Lithuanian Tribune. Following a trial period, there are plans to expand the network of such cameras, commented Commissioner General of Police Linas Pernavas. "Developed EU members states have long concluded that it's more effective to calculate the medium speed on the section of several or several dozen kilometres, rather that measuring the instant speed. The Via Balti

A new report, produced by experts at King's College London, for the first time quantifies the health and economic effects of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2), where all previous studies have focused on particulate matter (PM2.5). Combined together the effects of both pollutants reveal a higher health impact than previously estimated after taking into account this further pollutant. The study also found that nearly half the health impacts are caused by air pollution outside London such as diesel

According to a new market research report by MarketsandMarkets, the intelligent transportation system market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.57 per cent between 2015 and 2020, and reach US$33.89 billion by 2020. The report, Intelligent Transportation System Market by Component (Interface Board, Sensor, Surveillance Camera and Others), System (ATMS, ATIS, ITS-Enable Transportation Pricing System, APTS, and CVO), Application, and Geography - Analysis & Forecast to 2015 – 2020, says that continuous inno

A trade association representing the highway construction industry strongly supports automated enforcement of speed limits in work zones and Maryland's experience with a similarly designed program has had very good results, the association head has told a joint Pennsylvania House and Senate committee. According to PennDOT, 24 people were killed in work-zone crashes in 2014, eight more than in 2013. Additionally, there were 1,841 crashes in work zones last year, a slight decrease from the 1,851 crashes

Electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions provider, APT Technologies has supplied and installed three of its very latest Tri-Rapid Chargers at sites in Shoreditch, Dalston and Hackney Central in London. Charging at 43kW AC power and 50kW DC power, the highly efficient Tri-Rapid Chargers have an eight-inch LCD screen ensuring simple user interaction, real-time consumption data and a constantly refreshed charging cost, measured on a pay-as-you-go basis. A sub-15 minute charging time ensures a fast and e

Gebze İzmir İşletme ve Bakım (GİİB) has begun work on the 22-year contract for the Gebze-Izmir motorway in Turkey and will be responsible for pre-operational services, operation, maintenance and toll management on behalf of Otoyol, the concessionaire for the Turkish General Directorate of Highways (KGM). Egis is a 50 per cent shareholder in GIIB, along with shareholders of the concession company. The Gebze-İzmir project is a toll motorway procured by KGM under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) model.

Average speed cameras are due to go live across the US$780 million M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project in Scotland. It is hoped they will encourage a safe and steady traffic flow by monitoring the average speed of vehicles through the works to ensure the safety of both road users and road workers. The cameras are expected to go live on 20 July and will remain in place until the completion of the project in spring 2017.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a US$370 million long-term loan to finance the upgrading of the local public transport system in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The funds will be used to purchase 82 new double-deck electric trains offering better energy efficiency, greater capacity and special barrier-free passenger comfort for the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) project. RRX is North Rhine-Westphalia’s most important rail project. Promoted by the four neighbouring transport associations VRR,

Following the announcement of the potential acquisition of Gatso by Sensys Traffic in June, the potential merger of the two enforcement companies is already proving fruitful, with the award of two new orders to Gatso. A new customer has awarded the company an order for a large quantity of mobile speed enforcement systems worth US$19 million. It also includes a fully equipped workshop and extensive knowledge transfer for integration, maintenance and calibration. The first shipment is scheduled for July 20

Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) has arranged a three-part series of webinars to provide traffic engineers with the tools to better understand what is happening on their roads and how they can improve driver satisfaction and improve efficiency. Session 1, Traffic Sensing 101, is on 22 July at 1300 EDT/1000 PDT and will look at what is driving the recent need to minimise congestion for smooth traffic flow and what trends are driving the need, as well as which applications will shape the future of traffic

Fix 66, a newly formed group to advocate for a managed lanes and bus rapid transit system to improve mobility in the I-66 corridor outside of the Capital Beltway, has applauded Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT’s) announcement that they will advance a public-private partnership (P3) option for I-66 improvements to evaluate it with the previously announced public financing option. Fix 66 said, “We applaud VDOT’s decision to put the public-private partnership option on the table because maximi

Slovakia’s complex electronic toll collection (ETC) system has seen steady growth since it opened in 2010; toll collection in 2013 totalled US$161 million, while in 2014 US$200 million of told were collected. The first quarter of 2015 saw a total of US14.4 million of tolls collected. At the end of March 2015, 245,408 on-board units (OBUs) were registered with the system; 72 per cent of OBUs are registered to foreign drivers. Designed, developed and operated by Skytoll on behalf of the National Motorwa