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Kapsch ATMS Platform Has Multiple Applications Across North America

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Kapsch TrafficCom is spotlighting the adoption of its Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) by infrastructure operators across North America.

The technology is in use to improve vehicle traffic flow and safety at several major transportation facilities, including PANYNJ’s George Washington Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. However, operators have also deployed the ATMS platform at airports such as Newark Liberty, on transit systems including MTA’s New York subway, and at public utilities that use the technology to improve resource management.

Kapsch states its ATMS installations integrate with “Intelligent Transportation Systems and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology to provide real-time data, automated alerts, and remote system controls. This allows transportation authorities to detect and respond to incidents quickly, ensuring minimal disruptions and greater efficiency. The system is flexible, boasting extensive functionalities ranging from substation control to incident detection, air quality monitoring, ventilation system control, dynamic message signs, CCTV, to core systems like lighting, power control and many more.”

JB Kendrick, President of Kapsch TrafficCom North America, calls the ATMS platform “a game-changer for infrastructure management and smart, sustainable mobility. Not only is it battle-tested in deployments across our region, but our continuous and flexible development process reflects our unwavering commitment to innovation and safety with these pivotal and critical systems.”

Malaysia Adopts New Policy On Holiday Toll Rates

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After a period of fluctuation, Malaysia’s government has settled on a policy regarding holiday toll rates. Paul Tan Automotive News reports, passenger vehicle toll rates at most highways around the country will be discounted 50 percent during this year’s “festive seasons.” The discount policy was followed successfully during last month’s Chinese New Year celebration.

Earlier in January, the government announced that it was ending the practice of suspending holiday tolls entirely. That action received the support of several economists and transportation experts. However, following a subsequent cabinet discussion, officials backtracked and decided to adopt the 50 percent discounts policy.

“Fast Company” And Broadway Report On Congestion Pricing’s Positive Impacts

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“Fast Company” is the latest national publication to take note of the positive outcome from the first month of Manhattan congestion pricing. Acknowledging it’s early days, an article on the magazine’s website reports that current MTA data, supported by independent measures, reveals positive trends in traffic reduction, travel times, and transit adoption. (Initial information about toll revenue yield and air quality should be available later this month.) The article focuses on the program’s immediate impact on improving commutes by car and bus into and within the congestion zone.

Concerns that congestion pricing would seriously curtail New York City theatre attendance have so far proved to be unfounded, Streetsblog NYC reports. “Despite doom prognostications, congestion pricing has not hurt Broadway’s bottom line a bit — and, in fact, may be boosting it. According to the Broadway League — the Great White Way’s trade group — ticket sales rose year-over-year in both the third and fourth weeks of January,” the period following the usual holiday surge in attendance.

MTA policy and external relations chief John McCarthy commented, “Most [theatergoers] take subways, buses, bikes, cabs or walk to Broadway shows. The relatively few who drive are seeing much less traffic. So, no surprise that attendance and ticket sales are way up.”

Maryland Unveils Key Bridge Replacement Design

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Maryland Matters reports, “State officials unveiled the design for the new Francis Scott Key Bridge on Monday, almost a year after a container ship slammed into the old bridge, sending it tumbling into the Patapsco River and killing six workers . . . . ‘This is a great day for Maryland,’ said Gov. Wes Moore (D), as the design was revealed. “But it’s not lost on me that today’s triumph was born out of tragedy.’”

Renderings show the span will be a “soaring cable-stayed” structure. It will have two traffic lanes in each direction and provide 230 feet of clearance over the ship channel, compared to the old bridge’s 185 feet of vertical clearance. “When it is completed — the contractor predicts the bridge could open in fall 2028 — the bridge will restore a major roadway between Dundalk and Baltimore.”

Officials said the replacement project’s next step will be demolition of the collapsed span’s remains. “Demolition is expected in the spring and construction will begin shortly after. Preconstruction operations have already begun, such as collecting soil samples and mapping subsurface waterways, the Maryland Transportation Authority said in January.

Governor Moore concurrently announced a $15 million investment in a project to increase container capacity at a major Baltimore Harbor logistics center.

A subpage on the Key Bridge Rebuild website has design images and information. Governor Moore issued an extensive news release on the design reveal.

The Washington Post and WBAL-TV also cover this story.

New DelDOT Leadership Team Takes Office

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On January 30, Shanté Hastings was sworn-in as the department’s twelfth secretary following her unanimous confirmation by the state senate. DelDOT’s announcement of the official start of her term added that Ms. Hastings has appointed Lanie Clymer the deputy transportation secretary and Mark Luszcz as DelDOT’s chief engineer.

The new secretary was nominated in December shortly before taking over as acting secretary upon the departure of Nicole Majeski. She has been a DelDOT staff member and executive for more than 20 years, according to detailed biographical information in the announcement.

Ms. Clymer has extensive public and private financial management experience. She joined DelDOT in 2007 and was serving as the department’s finance director before her elevation.

Mr. Luszcz has nearly 30 years’ experience in public and private sector transportation engineering. He previously served as a deputy director in DelDOT’s Division of Transportation Solutions, at various times having responsibility for a wide-range of operations or for design. He was the department’s chief traffic engineer at an earlier stage of his career.