- PA Turnpike Begins Installing ORT Equipment On Western Mainline Gantries
- TxDOT Launches SH-130 Smart Corridor Operations
- Former German Transport Minister Faces Perjury Charge Related To Toll Contract
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PA Turnpike Begins Installing ORT Equipment On Western Mainline Gantries
On May 29, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) advised travelers that they will begin seeing tolling technology installed on newly constructed gantries along the western segment of the turnpike mainline. The work is visible evidence of PTC preparations for the final phase of its systemwide conversion to open-road tolling (ORT).
Installations are now underway at mile markers 185.2 in Huntingdon County and 168.4 in Fulton County. However, the new technology won’t be activated until equipment is installed all across the segment from the Reading Interchange to the Ohio border. The work is due for completion early next year. PTC converted to ORT east of Reading and on the Northeast Extension in January 2025.
Source: PTC news release
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Open-Road Tolling Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)TxDOT Launches SH-130 Smart Corridor Operations
TxDOT has converted a four-mile segment of the SH-130 toll road in metro Austin to a smart corridor. The roadway is equipped with an integrated sensor platform, including cameras, LTE antennas, fiber-optic connectivity, and AI-powered processing.
The technology provides the TxDOT traffic management center with real-time hazard alerts, incident verification, and corridor status information. The department says center personnel get “a clearer, instantaneous, more complete picture of what is happening on the roadway,” which enables them to make faster and better-informed decisions. Drivers aided by connected vehicle technology also get prompt notification of traffic disruptions and are able “to make informed decisions early for safer and more efficient travel.”
The SH-130 facility will serve as a live testing ground for Texas SMARTTrack, the transportation technology evaluation and certification center developed by TxDOT, the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin, and regional agencies.
Source: TxDOT news release
Artificial Intelligence Austin (TX) Metro Area Highway-Tunnel-Bridge Safety (Includes COVID-19 Impacts) Intelligent Traffic Management Systems Intelligent Transportation Systems Texas Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) V2X and V2V TechnologyFormer German Transport Minister Faces Perjury Charge Related To Toll Contract
On May 29, a Berlin regional court announced that it has accepted an indictment charging Andreas Scheuer, Germany’s former transport minister, and another federal official with perjury. Prosecutors allege that the men, who are no longer in public service, made “deliberate false statements” in 2020 testimony to a parliamentary committee investigating a passenger car tolling program that Germany had to scrap before implementation. Scheuer and his co-defendant deny the charges.
The controversial program faced an early court challenge on the basis it discriminated against non-German EU citizens. In 2018, while the case was still in litigation, Scheuer pushed through a toll services contract with a joint venture team that made preparations to start collection in 2020. When the European Court of Justice ruled against Germany in 2019, the government abandoned the program and cancelled the contract, leading the companies to claim damages. In 2023, they received an EUR 243 million (then, approximately USD 264 million) arbitration award.
Members of the investigative committee asked Scheuer and his colleague whether the companies had offered to postpone contract execution until the court case was resolved. Prosecutors allege that both men “stated, contrary to their actual recollection, that they could not remember such an offer of postponement.”
Sources: AFP (via France 24), Deutsche Welle, TRN
Crime Beat EU Germany Issues of Law Procurement of Tolling Equipment & ServicesSubscription Information
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