Urban Traffic Control

New York's award-winning traffic control system

February 28, 2013

A comprehensive ITS strategy in New York built on a system of key building blocks has been crowned with an IRF award for the city’s Midtown in Motion adaptive control system. Jon Masters reviews New York’s ITS modernisation plan as the city looks to the next phase of expansion. In January this year the International Road Federation (IRF) presented TransCore and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) with the IRF Global Road Achievement Award. This was for deployment of New York’s Midtown in

Developing Mexico's ITS standards and infrastructure

February 28, 2013

Promoting open market conditions for ITS deployment remains a major part of Mexico’s recent infrastructure modernization program. Travis P Dunn, partner at D’Artagnan Consulting, looks at the progress so far. In the past six years, Mexico has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure modernization program, calling for the construction and improvement of more than 19,000km of road infrastructure and the deployment of advanced technologies that improve safety, efficiency, and convenience for road users. One of

EDI launches new SmartMonitor series

February 28, 2013

The latest MMU2-16LEip and MMU2-16LE SmartMonitors from 41 Eberle Design (EDI) are both fully compliant with the recently updated NEMA TS2-2003 (R2008) Standard for Traffic Controller Assemblies, amendment 4-2012, which defines flashing yellow arrow (FYA) operation for both the controller unit and the MMU. The new SmartMonitor series is designed to monitor an intersection with up to four approaches using the four section FYA movement outlined by the MUTCD 2009.

Project of the year win for TransCore Silicon Valley project

February 27, 2013

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) State Route (SR) 237 Express Lanes, for which TransCore serves as lead integrator, received the 2012 Transportation Project of the Year Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). VTA is implementing the Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program to provide congestion relief in one of its major Bay Area commuter corridors. As part of the program, the SR 237, US 101, SR 85 and parts of I-680 corridor will convert the existin

Toyota proving ground tests co-operative ITS

February 25, 2013

Opened in November 2012, Toyota’s intelligent transportation systems (ITS) proving ground is being used to run a number of interactive tests between specially-equipped Toyota vehicles. Located at the company's Higashi-Fuji Technical Centre in Susono City, Japan, the ITS proving ground is a 3.5-hectare site that faithfully replicates a real urban environment, complete with intersecting streets, pedestrian crosswalks, and traffic signals. It is equipped with optical beacons, government-allocated 760 MHz trans

Arizona DOT upgrades camera system

February 22, 2013

Arizona’s traffic operations centre was built more than twenty years ago; the first traffic camera was installed over Interstate10 in 1990. That’s all changed now thanks to a recent US$2.1 million upgrade of the camera system by Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) which replaced cables with fibre optic lines, so the cameras now show fresh images every ten seconds rather than every five minutes. The upgrade has also replaced the 32 video screens in the traffic operations centre, enabling staff to sca

Success of first MOBiNET meeting

February 21, 2013

MOBiNET, the new ERTICO-led project which plans to develop and run an internet of mobility, a platform that links transport services and end users, recently concluded its first meeting. By developing a set of common tools and standards (collectively known as MOBiNET), the idea is make to mobile transport services, such as journey planning, automated ticketing, billing and vehicle tracking more accessible and more usable. As a 'cloud based' system MOBiNET will make it much easier for software developers to c

Heart of Slough implements Siemens wireless traffic detection

February 21, 2013

As part of the Heart of Slough improvement project, new traffic intersections across seven key sites in and around Slough, UK have been equipped with a total of 162 Siemens WiMag wireless magnetometer sensors by Siemens to help improve the management of traffic using the A4 and travelling to and from the town centre. Complementing the company’s proven loop and radar detection solutions, the sensors provide the Heart of Slough project with an alternative traffic detection system that uses magnetic disturbanc

IBM and NXP partner on Dutch connected car pilot

February 21, 2013

The first results of a smarter traffic pilot, conducted in the Dutch city of Eindhoven by IBM and NXP Semiconductors demonstrate how the connected car automatically shares braking, acceleration and location data that can be analysed by the central traffic authority to identify and resolve road network issues, say the companies. “The trial successfully showed that anonymous information from vehicles can be analysed by local traffic authorities to resolve road network issues faster, reduce congestion and impr

City of Greenville adopts Wavetronix traffic sensor technology

February 21, 2013

The US City of Greenville has begun phasing in new vehicle detection technology at its traffic signals. The state-of-the-art traffic sensors are expected to provide numerous benefits to motorists including improved safety, cost savings, greater mobility and increased productivity. The city’s 115 vehicle-activated signalised intersections currently have more than 900 in-road sensors that detect the presence of vehicles. The loop detectors, which have been widely used throughout the US for more than four de