News

Robert Poole, co-founder of the Reason Foundation, has worked on transportation policy for more than three decades and is an influential voice on tolling, congestion pricing and infrastructure finance. Writing in his monthly newsletter (link http://reason.org/news/show/surface-transportation-news-131) he voices his scepticism of vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology which may one day allow cars to communicate with each other and with traffic infrastructure to avoid colli

ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) and IBM Singapore have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate and explore opportunities to leverage transport data analytics to promote smarter mobility. The MOU will enable both companies to develop a mutually beneficial partnership into new strategic growth areas in transport data analytics for exchange technical dialogue around their products and capabilities, specifically on the use of smart analytics for urban mobility solutions. They will explo

The Navegantes international airport in Brazil's Santa Catarina state is to be expanded under the federal government's regional plan. The goal is to convert it into a multimodal terminal for cargo and passengers to complement port logistics in the area, civil aviation minister Wellington Moreira Franco said during a meeting with state mayors.

As transportation industry experts from around the world gather in Austin, Texas for the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association’s 82nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 14-17 September, infrastructure solutions firm HNTB Corporation announces the results of a new America THINKS tolling survey, including the public’s views on tolling in the State. According to the survey, close to three in four (73 per cent) Texans who regularly drive on roads or bridges with tolls are pleased with the value

The European Commission has released US$15.3 billion of EU funding to improve European transport connections and invited Member States to propose suitable projects to use the funding. Proposals must be submitted by 26 February 2015. EU financing for transport has tripled to US$33.6 billion for the period 2014-2020, compared to US$10.3 billion for 2007-2013, under the new Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). This is the first tranche of the new funding for transport to be made available. The funding will

Located near the French capital Paris, the innovative city Les Mureaux successfully introduced smart parking sensors to monitor parking spaces in blue zones this year. The town is using Nedap’s wireless vehicle detection system Sensit, a network of wireless parking sensors which detect vehicle occupancy in parking spaces. The system collects parking data and shares that information with third party parking guidance, enforcement and intelligent transport systems. Information on the real-time availabili

Inrix has been selected by the I-95 Corridor Coalition as one of their preferred providers of real-time traffic information. The majority of member states in the I-95 Corridor Coalition are continuing to use Inrix XD traffic information to help them streamline daily operations, pinpoint investments and deliver better traveller services. The I-95 Corridor Coalition is an alliance of transportation agencies, toll authorities, and related organisations, including public safety, from the State of Maine to t

A consortium of Strabag and its subsidiary Heilit and Woerner has been awarded a US$51.7 million design-and-build contract for a 7.6 kilometre bypass around the city of Kościerzyna in northern Poland. The project comprises the construction of three traffic lanes with one additional lane that can be adapted for traffic if needed. It also includes nine civil engineering structures, including bridges and a railway overpass; environmental protection measures such as noise barriers and wildlife crossings; a

US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx has announced a new initiative to reduce the growing number of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities through a comprehensive approach that addresses infrastructure safety, education, vehicle safety and data collection. Injuries and fatalities of pedestrian and people bicycling have steadily increased since 2009, at a rate higher than motor vehicle fatalities. From 2011 to 2012, pedestrian deaths rose six per cent and bicyclist fatalities went up almost s

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and mobile ticketing solutions provider Bytemark are to team up to offer mobile and web based ticketing for the state’s BusPlus program. The BusPlus program, a partnership between MassDOT and private bus operators, offers new regional transportation services to increase intercity and commuter transportation options available across the Commonwealth and New England. The free BusPlus app will utilise Bytemark’s patented mobile ticketing solution,

Australian telematics solutions provider Intelematics took advantage of the ITS World Congress to announce a major network expansion of its real-time traffic service. In one of the Southern Hemisphere's largest service rollouts, Intelematics will add more than 45,000 square miles (72,500 square kilometres) to the SUNA traffic channel’s RDS-TMC network by December 2014. The network's coverage footprint will be expanded by more than 80 per cent and be available to more than 17.5 million Australian motor

The idea of average speed enforcement, or section control, in Germany has long been discussed by German authorities following its recommendation in 2009 by the 47th German Traffic Court Day. Interior Minister Boris Pistorius has announced a section control pilot project which is scheduled to be operational in Lower Saxony in spring 2015. Instead measuring speed in the conventional at a single point, section control measures average speed over a longer stretch of road. This method usually results in l

Findings of a Jordanian Customs’ trial of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems (E-GNSS) and EGNOS (the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service which corrects GNSS errors to improve accuracy and security) are to be presented at a special event in Amman. The trial evaluated the system for tracking and tracing containers shipped across the Mediterranean Sea and the vehicles transporting the goods in Jordan.

Work on the new US$12.9 billion Mexico City international airport is scheduled to begin next month, according to Gerardo Ruiz, head of Mexico's transport and communications ministry SCT. Initial works include involve soil improvement, road connectivity and water infrastructure works. Water-related issues on the site could present the greatest challenge to the airport project, as the area is presently used as a buffer zone where excess rainwater from storms is diverted to the land to ease the capital's d

The technology exists to make self-driving cars an emerging reality in the next three to five years - if the country will build the infrastructure and the government will issue the necessary rules, the CEO of wireless communications company Verizon told the Detroit Economic Club on Monday. His comments, reported by the Detroit News, came the day after the announcement that Michigan will install cameras and sensors along 120 miles of Detroit freeways to connect cars wirelessly to highways and each other.