News

Five new members, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), 7Layers, eTrans2020 and Rohde & Schwarz, have joined the OmniAir Consortium, the association formed to advocate connected vehicle interoperability (IOP) through independent certification programs. Among these new members is the consortium’s third certification lab, 7Layers, which has announced plans to become accredited to certify DSRC equipment through OmniAir Certification Services. ETrans2020

The 2014 IBTTA Global Summit, Innovations & Technologies for Sustainable Mobility, Environment and Road Safety, takes place on 19-21 October 2014 at the Prague Marriott in the Czech Republic. This Summit offers an unparalleled opportunity to network with colleagues and share experiences across international borders. Sponsorship and exhibit opportunities are available. The full programme, travel and hotel details are available on the IBTTA website (link www.IBTTA.org). IBTTA negotiated hotel rates are

A new review by the commissioned by the Australian Federal Government and chaired by University of Melbourne economics professor Ian Harper makes a strong case for what it calls ‘cost-reflective road pricing’. The 313 page review of competition policy in Australia says the advent of new technology presents opportunities to improve the efficiency of road transport in ways that were unattainable two decades ago. Linking road user charges to road construction, maintenance and safety should make road investm

TRL Software has entered in a distribution agreement with Florida based McTrans, to distribute ARCADY and ARCADY Lite in North America.

Despite support from the Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) and the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA), Gauteng’s e-tolls will not be replaced with a fuel levy after the country’s other eight provinces overwhelmingly rejected this idea, saying they will not be made to pay for excellent roads when theirs are poorly maintained. The provinces also rejected a proposal that the national government should take over the funding of improvements to Gauteng highways. Instead of the current user-pay p

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced that 40 projects have been competitively selected to receive a share of US$3.59 billion in federal disaster relief funds to help public transportation systems in the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy to become more resilient, in order to withstand the impact of future natural disasters. Approximately 90 per cent of the funds will be invested in resilience projects primarily in New York and New Jersey, where transit systems sustained the worst of the

Two projects recently implemented by Middle East-based Traffic Tech Group have scooped the Most Innovative ITS Implementation Award at the ITS and Road Safety Awards 2014 at the ITS and Road Safety Forum. The projects, for the Duhail over-height vehicle detection system (OVDS) and the Doha emergency vehicle pre-emption system (EVPS) in Qatar, were awarded to Traffic Tech in 2013. Both were fast tracked and completed in record time, becoming fully operational in early 2014. The Duhail OVDS incorporates

Cubic Transportation Systems has successfully extended its service and maintenance contract for the eTicket back office system for one of the largest transport consulting and services companies in Germany, the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund Servicegesellschaft mbH (rms). Developed by Cubic in December 2011, the area-wide multi-tenant central system (vHGS) contract extends the relationship until 2017, providing the opportunity for continuity and further development. The sales terminal in Cubic’s back office i

Q-Free has further expanded its advanced traffic management systems and road user charging business, with the acquisition of US company Open Roads Consulting. Q-Free says Open Roads Consulting's software solutions will be a valuable addition to its own ATMS solutions in the US and internationally. Established in 2000, Open Roads Consulting has 74 employees and operates mission critical traffic deployments and video based surveillance of critical assets in 30 states in the US. “We are happy to close t

The value of the blind spot detection system market is projected to grow US$2.8 billion and adaptive cruise control system market to grow US$6.1 Billion by 2019 at a healthy CAGR of 22.8 per cent and 16.9 per cent respectively from 2014 to 2019, according to the latest report from Research and Markets. The report, Blind Spot Detection (BSD) System and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) System Market for Passenger Cars; by Geography - Trends and Forecasts 2014-2019, says that automotive adaptive cruise contr

Network Rail, which owns and operates the UK's railway infrastructure, has extended its long-term partnership with HaCon for a further five years and will continue to use their train planning system TPS. The system enables train planners can create and adapt optimal train schedules across the complex railway infrastructure, constantly responding to the ever-increasing demands of passenger and freight needs across the country. Up to 300 train planners can use TPS to plan over 21,000 train services per da

‘The delay of the introduction of free-flow tolls at Dartford River Crossing disappointing as it may present additional costs to industry’ is the message from the Freight Transport Association (FTA). The Association has voiced its concern in response to the announcement by the Highways Agency (HA) that the planned technology to allow motorists to use the crossing without having to stop at barriers and pay is to be delayed by up to four weeks. Originally planned to be in place by the 28 October 2014, th

RedSpeed International is to supply around 600 speed and red light safety cameras to Transport for London (TfL). The award is the result of a process which started in August 2012 and will see the company’s SpeedCurb and RedSpeed products progressively installed with a completion date of October 2016. The installation of the RedSpeed digital red light camera replacement in London has already started. The cameras not only enforce against red light running, but also monitor and enforce against vehicles brea

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is embarking on a fully automated transportation system to help reduce highway traffic congestion by as much as 18 per cent, officials say, taking as many as 40,000 automobiles off the road and replacing them with a fleet of four-car trains that can accommodate up to 800 passengers. Said to be the first fully automated wide-scale urban transit system in the United States, the $5.2 billion Honolulu Rail Transit Project features a 20-mile elevated rai

The administration of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has proposed investments of US$4.23 billion to improve the country's highway network in 2015. The investments would fall under the PAC growth acceleration plan. The bill calls for transport infrastructure department DNIT to manage US$4 billion in highway maintenance and upkeep, including highway BR-381 in the state of Minas Gerais between highway junctions BR-116 in the city of Governador Valadares and state highway MG-020. Other large investments