RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After a competitive procurement, the Virginia Department of Transportation selected TransCore, a unit of Roper Industries (NYSE: ROP), to design and build its I-66 Active Traffic Management system on Northern Virginia’s main highway into the District of Columbia. The $34 million contract is 90 percent federally funded and will support 34 miles of highway from the District of Columbia to Gainesville US-29 in Prince William County. The project is scheduled to be operational by the fall of 2014.
The I-66 corridor is one of the most congested interstates in Virginia and throughout the country. Because of limited right-of-way and construction funding, employing active traffic management technology can optimize mobility along the corridor by more effectively managing the congested conditions and increase safety, and reduce fuel consumption.
“TransCore remains at the forefront of providing the most innovative intelligent transportation systems to improve trip reliability and maximize roadway capacity across our nation’s infrastructure,” commented Tim Fischer, TransCore’s senior vice president. “We’re pleased to support VDOT as it undertakes such a signature ITS project in the country."
The active traffic management system will continuously monitor traffic and roadway conditions around the clock, collecting data using roadway monitoring equipment such as vehicle detection sensors and closed-circuit television cameras. The system will use such techniques as lane control signal systems, adaptive ramp metering, enhanced detection and camera systems, lane management systems, and queue warning systems. Active traffic management systems have been used throughout Europe for the last decade, but this is a relatively new concept in the United States.
Benefits of the I-66 ATM system for motorists include:
- Dynamic message and lane control signing advising motorists on incidents and delays by providing direction on lanes that are usable, and guidance on merging traffic;
- Expanded use of shoulder lanes regardless of time of day in response to incidents and to manage traffic;
- Improved monitoring of the roadway to provide quicker response by transportation, safety and law enforcement personnel.
TransCore, serving as prime contractor, will provide turnkey ITS design, construction, integration and testing services for the program. Once complete, operation of the system will be managed by the Virginia DOT Public Safety Transportation Operations Center.
TransCore has a 75-year heritage supporting the transportation industry dating back to the development of RFID transportation applications at Los Alamos National Labs to implementation of the nation's first electronic toll collection system. The breadth of the company’s expertise includes traffic management systems, intelligent transportation systems, toll systems, integration, design consulting, operations, and maintenance. TransCore has installations in 46 countries and a vast portfolio of intellectual property. In 2012, Engineering News-Record (ENR) ranked TransCore No. 140 out of the Top 500 Design Firms. Also in 2013, TransCore received the International Road Federation’s Global Achievement Award as well as ITS New York’s Most Outstanding ITS Project of the Year award for New York City’s Midtown in Motion. For more information, visit www.transcore.com.
About Roper Industries
Roper Industries is a diversified growth company and is a constituent of the S&P 500, Fortune 1000, and the Russell 1000 indices. Roper provides engineered products and solutions for global niche markets, including water, energy, transportation, medical, education, and SaaS-based information networks. Additional information about Roper is available on the company's website at www.roperind.com.