Urban Traffic Control

Leading Russian diversified transport infrastructure construction company Mostotrest and Kapsch TrafficCom have formed a joint venture, United Tolling Systems, to develop the strategy for the introduction of intelligent motorway management systems. Media reports suggest that the partners intend to bid jointly for the construction of a toll road in southern Russia.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is helping to inject private finance into the modernisation of Poland’s municipal transport system with a loan for the construction and operation of an underground car park in the historic part of Wroc³aw, Poland’s fourth largest city.

Optotraffic has entered into a contract with Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, to provide a complete automated speed enforcement programme in a school zone on state highway 261. Town officials say they are responding to a long-standing issue of speeding in the resort town. “We selected Optotraffic because it is a well known Maryland company that uses an innovative technology, capable of enforcing in two directions simultaneously with only one piece of equipment,” said James L. Parent Jr., town administrator.

A full scale major incident emergency exercise has been carried out in the UK’s brand new Hindhead Tunnel on the A3 in Surrey. Located just to the south of London, the A3 route carries heavy traffic volumes and the existing road link has been a major bottleneck for capacity as well as proving a safety risk for the area. The new tunnel, due to open soon will relieve traffic jams in the area and boost capacity.

The cities of Salerno, Vienna and Gothenburg, working within the Cosmo project, have agreed to implement a test bed for various cutting edge technologies developed in recent research European programmes (Cvis, Coopers, Safespot). The pilots will mainly focus on eco-traffic management, but other types of services such as eco-driving support, co-modality, traffic sensitive street lighting, and access management will also be addressed within the project.

A pilot project which began last month and which saw trucks banned on toll roads in Jakarta city, Indonesia, has produced dramatic results. The ban helped to cut traffic congestion in the city by 40 per cent, while average speeds rose from 15-20 km/h before the ban to 60-80 km/h.

Ho Chi Minh City government in Vietnam is targeting traffic congestion and gridlocks by implementing a range of measures including hikes in parking charges in central zones, banning private vehicles on some streets at particular times, and increasing registration charges for cars and motorcycles. Moreover, Mien Tay and Mien Dong bus terminals will be relocated to outskirt zones, while other bus terminals will be improved and enlarged.

UK transport secretary Philip Hammond yesterday cut the ribbon at the Hindhead twin bore tunnel in Surrey, signifying the end of a US$605 million, 1.8 km-long bypass of Hindhead village on the A3 between London and Portsmouth. The new tunnels will be used by 30,000 vehicles/day.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the US Department of Transportation and the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories (FEHRL) located in Brussels, Belgium have signed a six-year memorandum of cooperation. This agreement complements the role of the FHWA as an associate of FEHRL, which aims to increase cooperation and coordination in road research, development and deployment, taking into account the shared challenges faced by the FHWA and the members of FEHRL, and the authority pro

National City, in San Diego county, California, has installed Opticom multimode signal equipment to enhance safety and provide more efficient traffic signal preemption and management. Currently, more than 70 intersections are equipped with infrared (IR) signal priority technology, most of which are Opticom devices. This allows emergency responders to activate green lights en route to their destination. With the new multimode technology installed at eight intersections, traffic signals can be triggered using