The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has given notice of intent to award a contract that will provide a new statewide advanced transportation management system (ATMS) to a Canadian architecture, planning, engineering and technology company.
The Toronto-based IBI Group will supply WisDOT with its next generation ATMS, which is expected to go live in late 2017 and will replace the agency’s current legacy ATMS equipment. According to WisDOT’s request for proposals (RFP), the new system will enhance the department’s ability to more efficiently, effectively and reliably operate its intelligent transportation systems (ITS) infrastructure, with a key focus on system uptime. The new system will also include enhanced system performance metrics and will be ready to integrate emerging technologies, such as those associated with connected vehicles.
The IBI Group’s ATMS will be the central management element for all traffic data delivered by ITS field equipment for use in traffic management and traveler information provision. The ATMS developed by IBI will give WisDOT operators a real-time understanding of the road network from live traffic data, facilitating operational decisions to be made, as well as providing real-time information to road users via roadside variable message signs (VMS), website, email and SMS text alerts. The system will play a valuable role in the delivery of an efficient and safe road network across the state.
“We are very proud to have been selected by Wisconsin to provide their next generation traffic management solution,” said Derek Sims, the IBI Group’s global director for intelligence. “Our ATMS solutions improve safety and mobility for travelers on five continents. Our systems in the USA and North America have been at the forefront of technical innovation for over 30 years, and we look forward with great anticipation to a long and successful partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.”
IBI has recently participated in the launch of the Canadian province of British Columbia’s new variable speed limit system. BC’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure rolled out the new advanced system on critical segments of the province’s Highway 1, Highway 99 and the Coquihalla Highway. The C$12.5m (US$9.6m) system uses real-time data on road, weather and traffic conditions to adjust speed limits to prevailing conditions via a total of 47 digital signs along the routes.
IBI was responsible for the design, development and deployment of the underlying software that monitors and controls the system. The company’s software is used at the Ministry’s Regional Transportation Management Center, and includes all necessary user interfaces for operators to use the system, supporting interfaces for roadside weather and traffic monitoring devices, and all digital signs on the roadway, while also supporting the DriveBC traveler information system.
Homayoun Vahidi, IBI Group’s project director, noted, “The Variable Speed Limit System software we supplied enhances the monitoring and control capabilities of the Ministry’s Regional Transportation Management Centre, and leverages their investment in the Advanced Traffic Management System we supplied to the province in 2014.”
