Awards - All

The CCR Group is one of the largest companies in the area of infrastructure concessions in Latin America. It administers 2,437 kilometers of the Nation’s highways under concession in the States of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Paraná, and managed by the CCR Ponte, CCR NovaDutra, CCR ViaLagos, CCR RodoNorte, CCR AutoBAn, CCR ViaOeste, CCR RodoAnel, CCR SPVias, and Renovias concessionaires and employs approximately 7,000 people. Because of its relevance in the industry and its growth strategy (CCR acquires, on average one new business per year). The CCR Group perceived the need to enable all of its leadership levels and sought out Brazil’s most respected institutions, in 2010, to develop its Leadership Development Program (LDP). The result of that process was to choose the Dom Cabral Foundation (DCF), which created, together with the company’s People Management staff, a customized program that was prepared especially for the CCR Group. DCF was created in 1976 as a center for developing executives, business people, and companies, and it is one of the most renowned and respected organizations in Brazil in this segment. The Leadership Development Program (LDP) began in September 2010 and completed its first cycle in February 2011. During that time, approximately 200 executives from a broad range of leadership phases participated in the first three training modules, which dealt with the subjects of Corporate Governance, People Management, and Financial Management. Also included in this phase are bi-monthly workshops with the CCR Group’s top management. The other LPD cycles are already under way, and the conclusion of the entire process is expected for early 2012.

Considering that the customers of Tollways have higher service level demands compared to the users of non-tolled motorways, a “Monitoring the success” action has been adopted by Attica Tollway. This “Monitoring the success” action is based on the development of a system for monitoring and analysing the trends of the outcome of an urban Tollway and it acts as a mechanism protecting the expected “value” that arises from the payment of  toll fee.  The major components of this action are the "Key Performance Indicators" (KPIs), which are based, to a great extent, on a multifunctional survey, in reference mainly to safety and customer service.

The objective of the Commodity Hedging Strategy is to protect the Company (“N3TC”) against wild fluctuations whilst ensuring that it benefits from any downward movement in the dollar’s price of oil or upward movement in the Rand exchange rate. With the assistance of N3TC’s technical personnel, the projected consumption of bitumen and diesel was determined for each six monthly period to 31 December 2009. A competitive tender process was entered into with the financial institutions, the result of which was that derivative contracts were taken out for each six month period based on the projected consumption and a price determined by reference to the aggregate of the forward curve of the Rand exchange rate and the relevant commodity benchmark derived from the dollar oil price.

The efforts of the Illinois Tollway to market I-PASS and generate non-toll revenue have resulted in substantial growth in I-PASS sales and usage since the new leadership team was put in place in early 2003. Some of the most fruitful tactics of the Tollway have included unique partnerships with retailers, broadcasters, transit service providers and oases over the road site developers. In total these partnerships will generate over $4.0 million dollars in advertising and marketing dollars for the Illinois Tollway, which in the previous 10 years had only budgeted roughly over $500,000 total.  Not only does this save valuable resources, it also helps counter the negative public feedback that often results when toll money is spent to promote Tollway’s and electronic toll collection.

By using tax-exempt commercial paper, the North Texas Tollway Authority was able to lower interest rates in the early years of construction on projects such as the President George Bush Turnpike and increase debt capacity.  Commercial paper eliminates the need for capitalized interest and eliminates the potential for negative “costs of carry” in the construction fund.  In comparison to the traditional fixed-rate bond program the commercial paper program was projected to save approximately $43 million on $500 million in financing new projects.

The TxTag Fleet Program provides customers that have large vehicle fleets with efficient and cost-effective solutions, while ensuring toll revenues are collected. The program focused on the implementation of back-office systems to address the requirements for rental agency fleets. The program looked at the collection of payments for outstanding Pay By Mail account balances, and obtained approval of a fee negotiation policy to enable TxDOT to offer more reasonable fee settlement amounts. TxDOT designed the TxTag Fleet Program as a license plate-based, pre-paid account where tolls post at the Pay By Mail rate to account for image-based transaction processing costs. The program also provides customers with the option to forego the purchase of transponders, significantly reducing the overhead costs associated with managing them. This program, combined with the continued pursuit of unpaid violations, resulted in approximately $3.56M in toll and fee revenue collection.

The challenges facing the United States economy have created enormous pressure and hardship for all business. The tolling industry has also been swept up in this challenge. Rising fuel prices, loss of investment capital, unavailable highway dollars, and increasing unemployment have created an often chaotic and difficult operating environment. The NTTA, has a responsibility to deliver to service to their customers and stakeholders regardless of the economic environment. The NTTA is committed to providing the “highest level of service for the least amount of cost that is valuable for its customers and responsible for the NTTA. Having committed to an All Electronic Tolling (ETC) strategy, the NTTA customer experience has become a much larger challenge. The elimination of toll booths, the implementation of ZipCash payment systems and new facilities have put increased volume and pressure on all customer touch points. These include call center services, storefront TollTag stores, IVR, Web site and roadway customer service. A 20% increase in customer contact volume in uncharted electronic tolling waters risked stretching the limits of the customer service infrastructure. The NTTA needed to respond to these challenges yet be responsible in an economic environment where survival was paramount and not growth and innovation. Seeking a solution to the pressure of providing value added services with less resources and capital, NTTA turned to an unlikely partner: their customers. NTTA put their “customers to work” providing advice, coaching employees, auditing customer experience and training NTTA personnel. And not just a “couple” of customers helping out “every once and a while”, thousands of NTTA customers provide valuable coaching, advice and insight daily throughout the agency. Utilizing a technology platform called CDM (Customer Driven Management), NTTA can access customer’s 24x7 for input. What is significant is this platform solution crosses all levels of the organization and most importantly is provided individually. Customers are working in tandem with NTTA managers and front-line supervisors. This means that in some instances hundreds of customers are assisting one individual (and their manager) in addressing a specific performance area by providing coaching, advice, encouragement and training. This customer engagement is unparalleled in the tolling industry and the private sector as well. The impact is seen in reduced expenses, customer loyalty, streamlined process, changed behavior and perhaps most importantly a dramatically improved customer experience. Imagine - Customers and a public agency working together for the people of North Texas. Partnering with their customers is not a new concept for the NTTA. NTTA for the past three years has engaged their customers in a unique “Mystery Driver” program. Unlike most mystery shopper programs engaged around the world NTTA uses their actual customers to provide feedback and direction for the agency. In addition to synchronizing with customers, the NTTA also leverages CDM to facilitate virtual focus groups. The NTTA was considering two sign designs to communicate a rate change based on vehicle axles. Instead of using a traditional focus group, the NTTA was able to use this technology to get feedback regarding the two signs. These customers viewed the designs online and provided enough detailed feedback and advice that the NTTA was able to produce a third and final design that is in place today. A similar process was utilized that was able to produce a third and final design that is in place today. This process ensured clear invoice changes were made that customers would understand. These two instances alone save tens of thousands of dollars in traditional focus group costs as well as reducing contact volumes and their associated costs. NTTA increased their level of service at a minimal cost. This solution transformed NTTA’s perspective on customer service.

Good to Go! Marketing Program and Customer Service Center Opening In April 2006, Washington state launched its new Good To Go! electronic toll collection program with a two-year public outreach and marketing campaign. The success of the new $849 million Tacoma Narrows Bridge hinged on getting at least 50% of opening-day morning commuters to use electronic tolling in order to keep traffic flowing. National tolling experts doubted this ambitious goal could be achieved. On opening morning, 73% of the peak commute drivers used the electronic toll lanes, breaking all records for a new toll facility.

With a goal of increasing productivity and improving customer services through employee involvement, the E-470’s mission was to evoke a culture change that would enhance toll operations by utilizing business analytics and employee commitment. Applying process analysis and quality measurements such as Six Sigma and Lean Speed to isolate operational inefficiencies, the objective was to focus on these identified areas and maximize productivity by employing creative measurement techniques in a dynamic, competitive team environment that rewards for success.

The FTE reached its goal of increasing SunPass transponder sales by implementing an aggressive marketing campaign. The Enterprise’s project focused on making the SunPass more accessible to the public by expanding sales to two retail stores. Within a short period of time, the Turnpike Enterprise’s initial sales goals had been exceeded and consequently SunPass participation had increased significantly.

Like many toll facilities, the Maine Turnpike Authority has operated throughout its history in a political environment in which opinions regarding the very concept of a user fee highway sway from appreciative to disdainful, depending on the particular project or issue at hand. This volatility and the fact that toll facilities are enormously easy political targets has made it difficult for agencies to pursue important long-term initiatives and improvements without fearing that the tide may soon turn, causing projects to be disrupted and resources to be lost. The Maine Turnpike Widening project had been subjected to nearly 30 years of punishing political tidal shifts, resulting in two statewide referendums and several costly starts and stops. Having finally received statewide voter approval to move forward the Turnpike Authority was determined to advance the project in a way that would not only relieve public anxieties about the project at hand, but would strengthen public confidence and trust in the Authority's ability to undertake future projects and initiatives.

More than a project, program policy or action, MDX embarked on a campaign to move our community forward. We began a movement, a crusade, a full encompassing public outreach program to educate our customers, gain full support and establish a presence within our community as a leader in technology and as a trusted agency. The MDX ORT Outreach Campaign was intended to inform the community about the benefits of Open Road Tolling.

We first identified the key talking points on how ORT would improve the quality of life of our drivers – Safer, Faster, Cleaner and Provide for the Future. Next, the reach of this campaign needed to extend far beyond a corridor. The customary method has always been to focus efforts on public meetings within a set amount of yards from the roadway. However, in Miami-Dade one roadway can affect millions of drivers. The points of the campaign encompassed all aspects of a marketing and public relations campaign. It began with the briefing of elected official and community organizations. These briefings gave us an opportunity to explain who MDX is, what projects had already been delivered and what toll funds were being used for. However, this campaign took a turn to reach the masses. The point was to speak to our drivers in every way possible. If in their car, drivers would see traditional billboards, mobile billboards, toll booth wraps and if they were still paying cash at toll booths they received collateral pieces that explained what changes were coming to the roadway, where they could purchase a SunPass and what the important dates were. In addition, we printed informational ads in major local newspapers and community papers, purchased radio spots in English, Spanish and Creole. Then we decided to add television into the marketing mix by producing 60 second informational spots that put a picture to ORT. To complement the spots, a full 30 minute informational video was produced and aired for several weekends on major television networks. All portions of this campaign were designed to inform, but ultimately to drive traffic to a website designed just for the conversion. The new site MDXORT.com was truly the hub of this campaign and although websites are an essential part of any campaign, we identified the need to draw attention to the site. In every piece of communication, the website became the center for all updates.

The North Texas Tollway Authority's Sustainability Initiative is a multi-faceted approach to environmental stewardship that seeks to improve air quality, protect water resources, and enhance sustainability and aesthetics that ultimately lead to a safer, cleaner, more efficient and enjoyable drive for motorists traveling in North Texas.

Autovias S/A is a private-sector company, which has been awarded a 20-year government franchise for Lot 10 of the “São Paulo State Highway Franchise Program.” Currently, it is responsible for managing 316.5 km of highways, and the area under its direct management is the geoeconomic region of Ribeirão Preto, Araraquara, São Carlos and Franca. The highway grid under Autovias jurisdiction comprises five highway segments located in the Northwestern region of the São Paulo State, extending into the State’s central area. The toll road system operation involves a number of activities, including infrastructure construction works, which often cause topography and landscape changes to occur, modifying the behavior of water dynamics within catchment areas, leading to: erosion, settling, decreased ground-water infiltration, particularly in aquifer recharge capacity, and direct changes in the local hydrological cycle. In mid 1998, Autovias created the “Waterway” (Via das Ãguas) program, aimed at mitigating the impacts felt by natural resources, in particular water resources, as the entire highway grid which it manages is located on an aquifer recharge zone. It consists of building rainwater containment dams along the highway grid managed by the company, particularly in the areas of public-supply springs, waterways and headwaters located within the drainage basins of the Sapucai-Mirim, Pardo and Grande rivers. The objectives of the system are: to store rainwater fl owing from the highways and adjacent areas; to slow down the kinetic speed of such water, allowing it to infiltrate and consequently recharge the aquifer; and to prevent the water table from lowering and the ground from eroding and being dislodged along drainage areas.

Intervias Is a highway concessionaire (Toll Company) which has as its main responsibility the administration of six important highways of the State of São Paulo. Intervias has the commitment of recovering, maintaining, enlarging and improving these roads and freeways, besides offering assistance service to the users and implementing traffic operation and control equipments, to provide comfort, safety and satisfaction to drivers and pedestrians. Through the Projeto Escola Intervias (Intervias School Project), having as its slogan “Humanizing Traffic through Education”, the company develops the education of values, providing the dissemination of learning which will lead to the human relation universe and social relationship which favor a thorough citizenship exercise through an ethic-based process of inclusion.

The Suncoast Parkway is Florida’s Turnpike’s 42-mile, new alignment, limited-access toll facility, which impacts over 220 wetland acres as well as over 600 private property owners.  In response to these concerns, the Turnpike Enterprise developed and implemented the Aesthetic Design Guidelines (ADG) to control the design process and ensure that the Parkway be compatible with the environment.  Also, the Enterprise recognized the opportunity to construct a multi-modal shared-use along the corridor and created a multi use “linear park” adjacent to the roadway facility.  Therefore, this parkway provides not only a memorable driving experience, but also the merging of social opportunities and innovative use, while preserving delicate environmental conditions.

The Autostrada del Brennero SpA,home of the A22 motorway, won in the category of Operations for successfully experimenting with eco-friendly, noise reducing sound barriers along the 315 km (196 mi) route. The A22 motorway  collaborated with the community of Isera to erect the first solar-powered noise protection wall in Italy. The wall’s soundproofing protects the towns and communities located near the southbound stretch of the motorway, measuring 1067 m (3500 ft) long and 5.6 m (just over 18 ft) tall. The surface accommodates 3944 photovoltaic panels, which help to generate electrical power. The photovoltaic plant actively contributes to maintaining air quality and helps to reduce the greenhouse effect, and ultimately reduces global warming. The A22 motorway continues to move towards erecting sound-absorbing noise barriers wherever possible, equipped with photovoltaic panels.

In 2007, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) identified a customer need to obtain a TxTag® transponder on the roadway as opposed to driving to the Customer Service Center, ordering one through the mail or visiting retail outlet. To meet this demand, the Texas Turnpike Authority (TTA) Division of TxDOT created the In-Lane Tag Sales program. This program made TxTag transponders available for purchase at all of their mainline toll plazas on the Central Texas Turnpike System (CTTS) in the attended cash collection lanes. Drivers traveling on Loop 1, State Highway (SH) 45 north, and SH 130 in the Austin, Texas area could now purchase funded TxTag transponders at a mainline plaza for $20 cash, install the tag and use it immediately.  The program was well received from drivers on the CTTS, and as of March 2010, more than 120,000 tags had been sold through the In-Lane Tag Sales program. The TTA Division continually strives to provide drivers with customer-centric programs and approaches, representing leadership in the toll industry.  The In-Lane Tag Sales program is an excellent addition to that culture, making toll facilities both more user-friendly and more affordable to customers on the go.

The SunWatch Operations Center is a command-and-control technical support center specifically designed to manage toll collection systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As the hub of FTE’s complex tolling network – FTE operates more than 750 toll lanes across 606 miles from Miami to north Florida – SunWatch computers track equipment, systems, software and facilties, allowing staff to keep their fingers on the pulse of the system’s performance throughout the entire state. Through technology, they can detect and diagnose problems remotely, often making repairs from their work stations. In addition, a toll-free number into the Center allows toll-plaza personnel to report problems. SunWatch staff assess critical incidents, and when warranted, dispatch a technician to the site for speedy maintenance. SunWatch is FTE’s “high-tech eyes” on the system that work to maintain peak performance by effecting repairs swiftly, whether remotely or by efficiently deploying the 150 technical support professionals stationed across the state. In keeping with its sophisticated technology, and to allow SunWatch staff to quickly access information about the system and deploy resources, all information is depicted graphically, utilizing high-tech wall-size monitors with map overlays, status charts and alarm screens.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) implemented the state’s first optional toll lane project called the I-394 MnPASS in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.  This project, which opened in May 2005, converts the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-394 into high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, allowing solo drivers the opportunity to pay an electronic fee to bypass congestion.  This very unique design necessitated an innovative approach to traffic management and open road tolling. As a HOT facility, the lanes remain open to HOV use at no charge for transit riders, car pools and motorcyclists.

ASF worked closely with Météo France in order to create a weather forecasting system that would help ASF be prepared ahead of time for all kinds of winter weather and would also provide motorists with up-to-date weather and road condition information. After implementing the project in 2002, ASF has successfully handled two serious weather crises. The ASF system has provided improved quality weather information, which has made it possible for ASF staff to prepare appropriately for any weather crisis and to lower operational costs.

The program required the development of cooperative partnerships with various departments associated with HCTRA, and outlines an immediate plan of action required from any and/or all participating agencies. In addition to HCTRA's Incident Management Team, such agencies include Constable deputies from five precincts that have jurisdiction on the toll road system; various fire departments; HAZMAT; assisting maintenance and environmental clean-up contractors, etc. along with key HCTRA departmental personnel. The program is in place to ensure a preplanned and coordinated response to incidents on-or-affecting the Toll Road system, as well as outlining effective media/public awareness communications procedures. HCTRA's Incident Management plan also called for the development of a motorist assistance program to assist patrons (free of charge) with minor automotive emergencies and remove stalled or incapacitated vehicles from the road as quickly as possible. The agency's Patron Emergency Assistance Team (PEAT) began as a pilot program and has been enthusiastically welcomed by HCTRA patrons. PEAT plays an integral part in achieving the program's objectives and its planned expansion will provide total coverage of the entire toll road system and extended service hours.

The project consists in three main components: maps, virtual VMS and emergency calls. Based on the real time knowledge of the road operator concerning their network, maps can be generated, figuring POI (tourist interests, hotel, etc.) rest areas and service areas of the networks (with a description of all the services provided), exit ramps, as well as road work, travel times, traffic information and traffic incidents (congestions, accidents, alerts on speed limits.) Based on the GPS of the smart phone, the same information can also be presented in a personalized way: virtual VMS is shown along the trip of our customers directly to their iPhone. Only the information concerning the specific road the customer is using is then provided. Finally, knowing the customers position on the network, a third innovation is offered to the users: in case of emergency, or car break in, a simple click on the emergency call button establishes a connection with the operator, exactly as if the customer had walked along the motorway to reach the next emergency phone. The call and position of the customer is presented to the operator directly on emergency management tool. Reaction delays can then be highly reduced and safety highly increased.

In May 2006, 407 ETR implemented Vehicle Fingerprinting, state-of-the-art technology in vehicle recognition, also referred to as Vehicle Data Tag (VDT).  The implementation of this leading edge application has had a significant impact.  It has dramatically reduced the number of plates requiring manual verification and the number of staff performing this function.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) – which operates 537 miles of toll roads – has long recognized the critical nature of effectively communicating roadway conditions with the traveling public, media, emergency responders and internal management. With a goal of expanding its information-dissemination capabilities, the PTC launched a new Turnpike Roadway Information Program – TRIP. TRIP gathers information through automated data and video feeds from the PA Turnpike’s 24/7 Traffic Operations Center along with information from roadway crews, police, and emergency responders and delivers it to the public via its Interactive Travel Web Map, service-plaza message boards, the toll-free telephone call-in advisory system, and the automated Preferred Traveler e-mail and text message notification systems. This integrated communications network program enables the PTC to deliver accurate and consistent real-time travel information to nearly 190 million annual customers, further proving the PTC’s axiom, “You’re never alone on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.”

Construction of the Harris County Toll Road Authority’s new Westpark Tollway, a first-of-its-kind, totally electronic toll facility, began in June of 2001.  The Toll Road Authority opened the first 8 miles of this EZ TAG Only facility in May of 2004 and completion of the entire 14 miles of mainlanes was celebrated, in June of 2005.  The alignment of the Westpark Tollway begins in Houston’s Galleria area, just west of the 610 Loop and terminates at FM 1464 at the Harris/Ft. Bend County line.  The Ft. Bend County Toll Road Authority has connected their new toll road with Harris County’s, which provides direct access to the Grand Parkway (US-99).  Since opening the mainlanes in June, the new Westpark Tollway processed over 2.2 million transactions during the month of July, and our numbers continue to grow.

The SANEF radio broadcasts on the frequency 107.7 Mhz and gives information to clients related to traffic and weather conditions or to any event disrupting traffic flow.  However, there is no permanent presence of speakers during the night shift.  In order to be able to give traffic information when no “human” speaker is at the studio, SANEF implemented a program that extracts traffic and event information through software and system known as SYLVIA and is broadcast using ELIOTT, a virtual speaker.  Therefore, traffic information may still be disseminated on a real time basis in correspondence to changing traffic conditions.

Submission Category: Customer Service
The NTTA, has a responsibility to deliver to service to their customers and stakeholders regardless of the economic environment. The NTTA is committed to providing the “highest level of service for the least amount of cost that is valuable for its customers and responsible for the NTTA. Having committed to an All Electronic Tolling (ETC) strategy, the NTTA customer experience has become a much larger challenge. The elimination of toll booths, the implementation of ZipCash payment systems and new facilities have put increased volume and pressure on all customer touch points. Seeking a solution to the pressure of providing value added services with less resources and capital, NTTA turned to an unlikely partner: their customers. NTTA put their “customers to work” providing advice, coaching employees, auditing customer experience and training NTTA personnel. And not just a “couple” of customers helping out “every once and a while”, thousands of NTTA customers provide valuable coaching, advice and insight daily throughout the agency. Utilizing Tamer Partners Corporation’s CDM (Customer Driven Management) application the NTTA can access customer’s 24x7 for input. This results in hundreds of customers assisting individuals (and their managers) in addressing specific performance areas by providing coaching, advice, encouragement and training. The impact is seen in reduced management expenses, increased customer loyalty, streamlined process, changed employee behavior and perhaps most importantly dramatically improved customer experience. In addition to synchronizing with customers, the NTTA also leverages CDM to facilitate virtual focus groups. The NTTA was considering two sign designs to communicate a rate change based on vehicle axles. Instead of using a traditional focus group, the NTTA was able to use this technology to get feedback regarding the two signs. These customers viewed the designs online and provided enough detailed feedback and advice that the NTTA was able to produce a third and final design that is in place today. A similar process allowed customers to view and provide feedback on new invoice layouts that were being considered. These two instances alone save tens of thousands of dollars in traditional focus group costs as well as reducing contact volumes and their associated costs. NTTA increased their level of service at a minimal cost while reducing the operational costs of quality monitoring and coaching staff. Imagine — Customers and a public agency working together for the people of North Texas.

Submission Category: Operations
The SunWatch Operations Center is a command-and-control technical support center specifically designed to manage toll collection systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As the hub of FTE’s complex tolling network – FTE operates more than 750 toll lanes across 606 miles from Miami to north Florida – SunWatch computers track equipment, systems, software and facilities, allowing staff to keep their fingers on the pulse of the system’s performance throughout the entire state. Through technology, they can detect and diagnose problems remotely, often making repairs from their work stations. In addition, a toll-free number into the Center allows toll-plaza personnel to report problems. SunWatch staff assess critical incidents, and when warranted, dispatch a technician to the site for speedy maintenance. SunWatch is FTE’s “high-tech eyes” on the system that work to maintain peak performance by effecting repairs swiftly, whether remotely or by efficiently deploying the 150 technical support professionals stationed across the state. In keeping with its sophisticated technology, and to allow SunWatch staff to quickly access information about the system and deploy resources, all information is depicted graphically, utilizing high-tech wall-size monitors with map overlays, status charts and alarm screens.

Submission Category: Customer Service
With a goal of increasing productivity and improving customer service through employee involvement, the E-470’s mission was to evoke a culture change that would enhance toll operations by utilizing business analytics and employee commitment. Applying process analysis and quality measurements such as Six Sigma and Lean Speed to isolate operational inefficiencies, the objective was to focus on these identified areas and maximize productivity by employing creative measurement techniques in a dynamic, competitive team environment that rewards for success.

Submission Category: Social Responsibility
The “Back Home” program is conducted in collaboration with the Brazilian Association for the Search and Protection of Missing Children (ABCD). The Program focuses on two major fronts: mass dissemination of victim information and heightened societal awareness of the problem. Pictures and data on missing children are printed on the back of millions of toll vouchers handed out daily, as well as on billboards, leaflets, web sites, VMS and through the media. Truckers are particularly targeted as a group who sometimes contribute to this tragedy by inadvertently offering rides to such persons. As a result of this initiative, three children were found and many more people have been exposed to this important information.

Mobility in the Atlanta metro area has been a challenge for the region for many years. The need for new mobility choices is evident throughout the region. The previous I-85 HOV lanes consistently operated over capacity and did not provide reliable travel times for motorists. In particular, the I-85 corridor has limited transit options as well as physical constraints that make it unrealistic to add new capacity to the corridor due to minimal shoulder width and development all along both sides of the expressway.

The I-85 Express Lanes project was designed to provide for a more reliable trip along with free access provided to transit, carpools of three or more, on-call emergency vehicles and alternate fuel vehicles with the appropriate license plate.  Transit enhancements were also a key component of the project as the lion’s share of the Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD) grant went to transit expansion in the corridor. These goals provided most of the travelers on I-85 with an option to use the Express Lanes for a faster trip when needed. Before the Express Lanes opening, single occupant motorists were not able to use the HOV lane, therefore they were forced to use the general purpose lanes at all times.

The I-85 Express Lanes project demonstrated excellence in several ways. The partnership between GDOT, GRTA and SRTA was unparalleled and afforded major milestones to be accomplished without the typical bureaucratic “red tape” that plagues government agencies when implementing major projects. In addition, every staff member at SRTA understood their role in the project and were all striving towards a common goal. This helped to keep morale at an all-time high in the agency and promoted camaraderie amongst all staff. The successes and lessons learned from the project have been documented and shared with numerous tolling entities across the nation. SRTA has led various sessions on how to implement a HOT lane project, specifically providing details on the marketing and communications campaign strategies.

1. Customer Assistance Center Ticketing Utility System (CACTUS). CACTUS is a customized ticketing system that interfaces customer inquiries and trouble reports with PTC depts and functions. What makes CACTUS different from other ticketing systems is that it is integrated with other initiatives and serves as an overall controller.
2. TRIP II – The Next Generation. TRIP was  designed to improve customer service by disseminating travel conditions through a web map/web site, via email/text alerts, on VMS signs, and through an interactive voice response (IVR) dial-in phone line. 
3. Reports from the Road Crews (REPORTS). REPORTS is a web and telephony-based tool for PTC maintenance staff to report weather/roadway conditions while on the road. A Blackberry Application allows crews to enter conditions and view other reported conditions. It allows managers to view/approve reports from virtually anywhere. Reported conditions are automatically stored in the system and can be viewed by staff or crews for proactive response. Conditions are disseminated to the public via the TRIP II system. These three programs, made possible by leveraging new technologies, work in an integrated fashion to improve timeliness and accuracy of roadway reports to the public, to manage tech dispatch and repair tracking and provide a potential for producing revenue.

The Tomei Expressway is a major artery that has made invaluable contributions to Japan’s economy, industry, and culture since it opened in 1969. But after nearly a half-century of often explosive economic development, traffic volumes have increased and the vehicles themselves are larger, so that most sections of the road face serious congestion. The 162-kilometer Shin (New) Tomei Expressway provides a second mobility option to ensure the free flow of people and goods between Tokyo, the center of Japan’s economy, and Nagoya, one of its main industrial cities. The new highway was designed to dramatically improve reliability and service levels on the existing Tomei Expressway; Provide more resilient infrastructure in Shinzuoka Prefecture along the Tomei Expressway, National Highway No. 1, and Japan Railway’s Tokaido line, an area that faces a higher risk of landslides, typhoons, and other severe conditions; Revitalize the national and regional economy by speeding up the flow of people and goods between two of Japan’s major metropolitan areas.

Vital Stats

• 162 kilometers with 12 all-electronic tolling points
• Construction cost of ¥2,571 billion (US$25.7 billion), funded mainly through the bond market
• 92% reduction in episodes of traffic gridlock spanning 10 kilometers or more, from 227 to 18 per year, based on combined volume on the Tomei and Shin Tomei Expressways
• 27.5% reduction in collisions involving human injury or death, from 521 to 378 per year
• 70% of through traffic diverted to the Shin Tomei, with 80% of local traffic in Shizuoka Prefecture remaining on the original Tomei Expressway, and larger, long-haul vehicles switching to the new road
• 13% increase in traffic volume within the region, from 73,000 to 83,000 vehicles per day
• 97% increase in commercial/industrial land transactions in Shizuoka Prefecture, from 37 to 73 per year, in the first year after the Shin Tomei Expressway opened
• 74% increase in the percentage of non-local tourists visiting Mt. Fuji Seseragi Park, from 23% before the road opened to 41% after.

Innovative Features

Central Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd. funded construction primarily through the bond market, with the understanding that the Japan Expressway Holding Debt Repayment Agency (JEHDRA) would take ownership of the road and assume its debts after the project was complete. The agency completed the project on budget, and almost a year ahead of schedule. The leasing agreement between Central Nippon and JEHDRA ensured that (1) Project costs would be fully repaid with interest; (2) an essential project would be completed earlier than would otherwise be possible, while minimizing the burden on public funds and allowing a profit for the private concessionaire and users benefit from a flexible tolling system that offers excellent ancillary services.

The project gave Central Nippon an opportunity to acquire field experience with new technologies and systems that will now be applied on other roads in the company’s portfolio. The highway uses real-time camera footage and back office analysis to track road conditions and advise drivers of congestion, collisions, or obstructions on the roadway, via electronic signage and onboard systems. The Shin Tomei Expressway runs on the straightest possible line through mountainous terrain. Central Nippon used state-of-the-art design and construction techniques to protect genetic diversity in the project area, incorporating design structures that would help prevent landslides and protect local ecosystems. The project relied on an innovative excavation method to build the large, cross-sectional tunnels the roadway required, and introduced a new, compact bridge design that featured long-span, lightweight superstructures.  Agency Contact, Satoshi Naito, Section Chief, [email protected], +81-3-5776-5646

Purpose and Objectives

On May 19 and 20, 2013, several tornados touched down in central Oklahoma, causing widespread destruction and devastation in several communities. A deadly EF5 tornado tore through heavily-populated Moore, OK, and also hit smaller communities north and east of Moore. The damage inflicted by the tornados included 24 dead, 377 injured, and 3,937 homes and businesses destroyed. Following a declaration of emergency by Oklahoma Governor Fallin and President Obama, OTA stepped forward to help clean up the aftermath of the storms and restore key transportation corridors, enabling emergency responders and volunteers to get to the scene of the devastation.

Given the widespread destruction,  restoration of transportation infrastructure was a critical need. With obstructions limiting access to the disaster area, OTA crews worked to clear inbound and outbound roadways, removing debris and hauling it to a local dump. OTA’s efforts made it possible for first responders, relief agencies, and volunteers to respond to the significant needs experienced by local residents and businesses, thereby contributing to a sense of hope and recovery for the communities that were devastated by the storms.

Under state protocols, the Turnpike Authority was deployed through the state Secretary of Transportation as part of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (ODEM). Emergency services were underwritten by reallocating hourly and overtime salaries from routine maintenance activities—all of which are funded through OTA toll revenues.

Results

The Oklahmoa Turnpike Authority focused its cleanup efforts on city streets and residential lots, using heavy equipment to help people who had no other way to quickly remove large volumes of debris.

OTA was onsite the morning after the May 20 tornado, with crews putting in long, hard days under tough conditions until their portion of the work was complete. OTA mobilized the human resources required to get the job done quickly and efficiently. When the situation called for more or different equipment, field managers had the authority and ability to buy what they needed. The Authority’s efforts earned praise from the Secretary of Transportation, ODEM, the affected communities, and local media.

Innovative Features

When the OTA crews were first deployed, they arrived with large front-end loaders. It quickly became clear that these large pieces of equipment were less than ideal for the confined space between city street curbs, so the Authority quickly brought in skid-steer loaders that were more suitable for the work that had to be done. When work crews realized that grapple attachments on the skid-steers would make recovery operations more efficient, the grapple attachments were purchased and used.

OTA’s response to the Moore tornados showed how tolling agencies can help citizens who are unable to help themselves in a time of emergency and devastation. By being good neighbors and answering the call, the Authority quickly cleared essential access routes and established closer bonds with its community. Working together, OTA crews from different turnpikes built their own sense of connection and achieved greater pride and team spirit.

Agency Contact
David Murdock
+1-405-425-7396

Autostrade per l'Italia S.p.A

Purpose and Objectives

In 2011, Autostrade per l'Italia S.p.A launched a three-year initiative to improve procedures and operational efficiencies in winter operations. Key performance indicators for the project included 90% reductions in snow-realted traffic gridlock and congestion, and in situations where the travelling public had insufficient information on highway conditions.

Efficiency targets included:

• 20% reduction in the cost of salting
• 50% reduction in the cost of winter maintenance teams
• Reduced overall cost of winter operations, with no loss in effectiveness, by restructuring management and opening winter maintenance services to a wider pool of vendors.

The agency also engaged a professional weather forecasting service to provide continuous updates on potential storm conditions.

Vital Stats

• €4 million budget, 90% of it to acquire and outfit new vehicles, funded with internal resources
• 100% reduction in traffic gridlock due to snow, from 40.7 hours in 2010/2011 to 0 hours in 2012/2013 and 2013/2014
• 93% reduction in congestion due to snow, from 240.4 hours in 2010/2011 to 17.6 hours in 2013/2014
• 91% reduction in situations where customers had insufficient information, from 69 in 2010 to six in 2013
• 20% reduction in salting costs

• 75% reduction in winter maintenance costs.

Results

In 2013, Autostrade per l'Italia S.p.A received ISO 9001 certification for winter operations management. By that time, the EEWO Project had delivered new strategies for managing winter operations and heavy snowfalls, in-depth training for regional and headquarters staff, and a more efficient strategy for sourcing and deploying road salt, resulting in a 10% reduction in the number of vehicles required to service a 13% increase in lane kilometers.

Agency Contact
Enrico Valeri, Coordinator of Operating Network
[email protected]
+06-43-63-4781 

The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau introduced its electronic, distance-based toll collection system to increase fairness and equity across the highway network, boost operational efficiency, streamline traffic flow through variable pricing, and deliver superior accuracy. The agency introduced manual and electronic tolling in February 2006, followed by an eTag system in May 2012, and now averages 14 million transactions per day with a tolling accuracy rate of 99.97% and detection accuracy of 99.9%, the world’s highest. The new system consists of 319 single gantries that feature a modular design for rapid deployment. It took only 10 months to install all the gantries, with no on-the-job accidents or loss in quality.

The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau also won the 2015 President's Award.

Transurban and the Virginia Department of Transportation launched the 495 Express Lanes in November 2012 to reduce congestion and offer drivers more choices. The 14 miles of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in Northern Virginia, the product of a public-private partnership, introduced new traffic patterns, a new E-ZPass® transponder, and new rules of the road along one of the country’s busiest and most technologically advanced highway corridors.

A project budget of nearly $2 billion, made possible through an innovative combination of public funding, federal financing, and private partnerships, triggered the replacement of more than $260 million worth of aging infrastructure and culminated in the most significant package of highway improvements the region had seen in a generation. The project included complete reconstruction of 58 interchange bridges and overpasses, many of them including new bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways, as well as upgrades to 12 key interchanges and new access points at Merrifield and Tysons Corner, two of the region’s most heavily-travelled shopping and employment destinations.

Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau

The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau introduced its electronic, distance-based toll collection system to increase fairness and equity across the highway network, boost operational efficiency, streamline traffic flow through variable pricing, and deliver superior accuracy. The agency introduced manual and electronic tolling in February 2006, followed by an eTag system in May 2012, and now averages 14 million transactions per day with a tolling accuracy rate of 99.97% and detection accuracy of 99.9%, the world’s highest. The new system consists of 319 single gantries that feature a modular design for rapid deployment. It took only 10 months to install all the gantries, with no on-the-job accidents or loss in quality. A brief presentation and video were shown during the ceremony, held in Dublin Irleand on August 31. 

View Slides

View Project Video (this link will direct you to YouTube)

When Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise opened the I-4 Connector in Tampa Bay on January 6, 2014, it marked a milestone in the effort to reduce local congestion in the face of surging economic growth and increased truck traffic from the region’s busy port. The limited-access, all-electronic toll road links Interstate 4 and State Road 618 (the Selmon Expressway), providing direct access to the port with one-of-a-kind truck-only lanes. Traffic along the I-4 Connector has more than doubled in 2½ years, from 22,000 vehicles per day in 2014 to 48,000 today, demonstrating how effectively the project has eased congestion while removing an estimated 3,400 trucks per day from the streets of Ybor City, one of only two National Historic Districts in Florida. The diversion has reduced accidents on two key city streets by nearly 60 percent, and the availability of a free-flow, high-speed route means trucks travelling from I-4 to I-75 won’t hit a red light until they get to Canada. The project was funded by federal, state, and provincial governments, with essential support from $80 million in Turnpike revenue bonds. In FY 2015, project revenue of $8.8 million greatly exceeded the initial forecast of $6.1 million.

View Video

The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (F/ETCA) is looking forward to a 90 to 95 percent reduction in vehicle-animal collisions along a six-mile stretch of the State Route 241 Toll Road in Orange County, California, after installing safety fencing and new wildlife undercrossings for cougars, coyotes, bobcats and deer. The safety fence ranges from 10 to 12 feet in height and features an 18-inch “outrigger” to prevent wildlife from climbing over. It is buried 24 inches to prevent animals from digging under, and is placed in close proximity to the roadway shoulder to minimize native habitat loss. For any animals that still find their way onto the roadway, the systems include jump-out ramps at half-mile intervals as an escape route back to open space. Working with the University of California- Davis Wildlife Health Center and the UC-Davis Information Center for the Environment, F/ECTA conducted a two-year field evaluation of undercrossings that were already in place, then identified enhancements that would improve wildlife connectivity throughout the area. The assessment involved GPS tracking of cougar movements throughout the Santa Ana Mountain Range, use of cameras to track wildlife use of existing undercrossings and consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Transportation, among other stakeholders.

Wrong-way driving (WWD) is an immediate, urgent hazard on any roadway, whenever and wherever it occurs. That’s why it was a significant development when the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) became the first agency to pilot Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) as a WWD countermeasure. CFX initially set out to develop a better understanding of issues related to wrongway driving, as a first step in deploying systems to minimize or mitigate the problem. Its research focused on equipping Wrong-Way signs with RRFBs, radar or laser detection, and cameras to detect, deter and prevent wrong-way drivers from using exit ramps to enter the toll road mainline. Its evaluation of RRFBs involved testing on five ramps along the roadway network, one on State Road 528 and four on State Road 408.

After the North Carolina Turnpike Authority(NCTA) achieved toll interoperability with  Florida’s SunPass® in July 2013 and Georgia’s Peach Pass® in November 2014, its next step was to promote NC Quick Pass® transponder ownership as an opportunity for customers to pay lower toll rates across the U.S. east coast. NCTA’s outreach campaign offered users a more convenient customer experience, with quicker, more reliable mobility than they would achieve without a transponder. In April 2015, the Authority formed a promotional partnership with the Durham Bulls—a local baseball team, and the most popular sports franchise in the North Carolina Triangle—to build customer and brand awareness. Much of the campaign focused on reaching Bill by Mail customers through a table presence at 11 Bulls games between April and August, combined with print advertising and email marketing, in an effort to promote transponder use. In June NCTA and NC Quick Pass® began distributing 200,000 promotional inserts with paper invoices mailed to North Carolina residents. The insert offered users savings of up to 35 percent, plus the ability to pay their tolls effortlessly in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and all states in the E-ZPass® Group.

In 2014, the state of Georgia integrated the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) and the George Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) as a means to meet evolving demands for mobility through shared infrastructure, operations, and costs. SRTA receives the Customer Service & Marketing Outreach Award fo the Commuter Credits Program, an innovative initiative from the newly integrated agency. Commuter Credits are intended to help commuters think about their transportation in a more integrated way, reduce congestion along the heavily traveled I-85, and reduce SOV usage of Georgia’s Express Lanes during peak hours. The pilot program included three components:

Shift Commute – 243 existing Peach Pass users were offered weekly $3 toll credits for reducing their weekly peak period commutes from 4+ trips to 3 or fewer; Start a Carpool – SRTA attracted carpools to the express lanes by offering daily $3 toll credits to carpools with at least one Peach Pass user; Ride Transit – SRTA offered Peach Pass users daily $2 toll credits for taking the GRTA Xpress bus routes during peak periods.

Over the course of the pilot program 210 commuters took 4,500 trips using Ride Transit. Through Shift Commute, drivers moved almost 500 trips to off-peak periods or to another mode of transit. A vast majority of users said they found both programs easy to understand and would likely continue to use them in the future. SRTA plans to continue Ride Transit and Shift Commute on a permanent basis beginning in 2018.

Commuter Credits’ positive effects and tremendous user feedback demonstrate SRTA’s exemplary commitment to community outreach and engagement. The Community Credits Program has garnered global recognition for successfully highlighting the first steps agencies can take to serve users’ increasing demands for efficiency through a unified transportation system.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission receives the Technology Award for 511PAConnect, a new, trapped-traveler emergency communications tool that allows incident response teams to communicate via automated phone or text message directly with motorists who are trapped in a roadway backup. Extreme weather events are unpredictable, unavoidable, and can wreak havoc on travelers through road closures or by trapping them between exits. In 2016, Winter Storm Jonas stranded hundreds of travelers along a remote mountainous stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In emergency situations drivers will turn to any available source for news and updates, often including social media. 

This patchwork collection of news sources leads to misinformation, buried emergency communications, and overwhelmed agencies scrambling to monitor too many platforms at once. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) realized the need for unplanned, instantaneous, two-way communications for emergency situations.

511PAConnect delivers timely and accurate information to ALL effected travelers without prior registration or awareness of the program. When PTC opens an emergency event, an alert is immediately sent to all cell phones in the impact area. By following instructions on their phones, drivers select their preferred means of communication and can communicate questions or concerns directly with PTC. The tool asks for situational information (type of car, number of passengers, etc.) and allows users to share their location so PTC, PennDOT, and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency can understand the scope of the emergency and quickly shape their response.

511PAConnect is a life saving tool created with existing technology familiar to the public and agency staff. In its first year of operation, it has proven tremendously successful by meeting and exceeding agency goals and expectations. During the first five emergency events, non-emergency 911 calls decreased, customers engaged with the tool and responded positively (including “thank you” texts), and a trapped queue was avoided thanks to a precautionary alert. 

When the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) decided to convert the entirety of its toll road network to All Electronic Tolling, the project was sure to be a massive undertaking. MassDOT contracted Raytheon for a Design-Build-Maintain effort to deliver the new network of 32 AET toll zones on a tight deadline before the 2016 holiday season.  Raytheon receives the Private Sector Innovation Award for its implementation of MassDOT All Electronic Tolling.

Three months into the project, MassDOT issued a change order to change from Janus (E-ZPass) Readers to Multi-Protocol Readers (MPRs) in support of nationwide interoperability efforts. The change in technology required significant redesigns of gantries and wiring, and was expected to delay the project three months.

Raytheon remained committed to the original deadlines and responded to the change with an innovative accelerated construction schedule: gantry construction was performed concurrently instead of sequentially. Overhead cross members – with tolling technology attached – were assembled off-site as the vertical supports, power, and communications infrastructure were put in place along the road.

MassDOT anticipated 2-4 consecutive nights of road closures at each toll zone to construct the overhead components. Building the cross members off-site and delivering them to the toll zone shortened lane closures to six hours per zone. Traffic was fully stopped for only 15 minutes. This innovative process cut a remarkable 90 days from the construction schedule and completely negated the anticipated MPR delays. The new AET network went live on its original schedule in October 2016, 21 days before Thanksgiving.

The project’s quality has had an immense measurable impact on drivers. Not only did Raytheon’s innovative schedule minimize travel disruptions, converting to AET has shaved 12 minutes in each direction off the commute to Boston from suburbs in Western Massachusetts. Spread over the average 132,000 daily commuters, the AET network saves drivers 264,000 hours every week.

Overview

This program was intended to improve the overall effectiveness of Colorado's temporary license plates by creating a standardized tag design, specifications for placement of the tag on the vehicle and a database for vehicle owner identification.

Objectives

Three main objectives were to reduce leakage (lost revenue) resulting from inability to read temporary tags in the rear window due to misplaced tags, damaged/unreadable tags, tinted windows, fraud, etc.; increase safety measures for law enforcement by making the temporary license plate easier to identify at a distance, and by creating a database for vehicle identification and reduce the ability to counterfeit the temporary license permits/tags.

Results

For the Customer

The new standardized process helped eliminate customer confusion surrounding temporary tags. The new database is streamlined and provides the Authority more accurate address information meaning the customer receives a bill in a timely manner.

For the Authority

The initiative reduced the gross revenue lost due to the inability to read the paper tags by $6.7M when comparing the six quarters before the program to the six quarters after implementation of the newly designed tags and the streamlined database that allowed for improved identification of the registered owner of the vehicle.

For the Community

Local law enforcement agencies are now able to read the plate and complete a plate lookup before approaching the vehicle, increasing officer safety. Auto dealers received an updated, cloud-based vehicle registration and temporary license plate application that improved customer service at the time of vehicle sale. In addition, the new temporary tags provide a streamlined design and set requirements for the mounting of the tag on the vehicle.

For the Government

The Department of Revenue, Division of Motor Vehicles received a cloud-based temporary registration permits application that was available to county clerks and DMV offices that provided an improved searchable database integrated with the permanent license plate and registration database. This improved efficiencies and enhanced effectiveness.

This initiative is now being considered for use in Texas by the Texas DMV and the Texas Auto Dealers Association. In addition, this Colorado Legislative effort was used to model a similar temporary license plate program by the California DMV. This program has been used as a model within the toll industry because it is a true testament to what teamwork and collaboration can mean for a statewide initiative aimed at improving safety and enhancing business efficiencies. In the end, this program has benefited everyone from toll authorities to law enforcement agencies to government entities to customers. It demonstrated that a local toll authority (Colorado political subdivision), was able to partner with several state agencies, state and local law enforcement agencies, statewide local governments (64 county clerks) and private businesses (Colorado's auto dealers) in order to persuade the Colorado State Legislature to pass legislation, which in turn improved the business processes for all key stakeholders. In addition, the local toll authority (E-470), through a one-time grant, was able to spare taxpayers the cost of this project.

Overview

Toll Relief, the first program of its kind in the United States, provides meaningful financial relief to qualified residents who travel the Elizabeth River Tunnels in Virginia eight times or more a month and have a personal, annual income of $30,000 or less. The relief is the equivalent to as much as a 57 percent reduction in tolls. Transportation equity for those most in need has always been a challenge. With the Commonwealth planning more tolling projects, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) committed to build public awareness of the role tolling plays in delivering funding for much-needed highway improvements, while simultaneously ensuring equity for individuals in lower socio-economic brackets. In addition to implementing an aggressive outreach program to educate the public around the need for and benefits of tolling projects, VDOT introduced Toll Relief to assist citizens facing the biggest financial impacts from tolls. In October 2016, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that Norfolk and Portsmouth residents would receive help paying tolls on the Elizabeth River Tunnels through a new Toll Relief program. The operators of the Elizabeth River Tunnels are contributing $5.5 million over 10 years to help offset the cost of tolls on those individuals most financially stressed. The agreement is part of a broader deal to reduce the financial impact of major construction improvements for motorists in Hampton Roads.

Objectives

The program was designed to provide meaningful financial relief to the most economically challenged residents of the Portsmouth/Norfolk region (annual household income < $30K) that utilize the ERC more than 8 times per month. These tunnels are the only "timely" route between the two cities and had not previously been tolled. This program allowed working citizens from lower socioeconomic households to continue using their primary route to work with a reduction in the tolls therefore, reinventing equity in tolling and mobility for the Hampton Roads area.

Results

This program greatly reduced the concerns of stakeholders in the region regarding equity issues for financially distressed residents utilizing the newly tolled tunnels between Portsmouth and Norfolk. By implementing a local stakeholder steering committee and mounting an aggressive communications strategy, consensus was gained and support established for the buy-in of the Toll Relief program. Consequently, education around tolling increased and acceptance of tolling as a funding source grew in acceptance for the Hampton Roads area. By deploying a program which introduced "equity" into the tolling conversation, the roll out of subsequent tolled projects has met less resistance in this region. The most demonstrable result of the program was the number, over 2000, of participants/customers enrolled in the program.

In its first year in 2017, Toll Relief delivered $458,000 in financial relief to 2,094 residents. Enrollment for 2018 is over 3,000.

Overview

The New Mersey Gateway Bridge is an innovative response to a seemingly impossible situation faced by many local transport authorities around the world. Congestion on the aging local bridge had reached dangerous levels, with traffic volumes that risked community access to essential services on either side of the River Mersey. With no government funding available, the community knew it would never have the funds to complete the project unassisted. The Silver Jubilee Bridge over the River Mersey, built in 1961, constitutes a vital link for the residents of the Halton borough. Fifty-five years later, the bridge was approaching 10 times its intended traffic capacity, with daily peaks of up to 85,000 users in late 2017. The community wanted a second bridge across the River Mersey. But funding from the national government was denied due to scarce public funding resources.

With the responsibility pushed back to the borough council, it fell to a community of 125,000, with an annual budget of just over $130 million, to fund a $800 billion infrastructure project. To get the mobility it needed, the community accepted tolling on the existing bridge as well as the new one, after traffic modeling indicated that revenue from the new structure alone would not cover capital and operating costs. Given a choice between tolling both bridges or having no new bridge at all, the borough council overwhelmingly supported the project, as did local businesses and most residents. Halton needed an experienced toll service provider that could capture and channel the community’s vision. emovis met that challenge with an innovative tolling solution that earned community support, while delivering the revenues the borough needed to meet its contractual obligations.

Objectives

The primary objective of the New Mersey Gateway was to relieve relentless congestion on a local network where simply expanding the existing bridge would not have been sufficient. The new kilometer-long, cable-stayed bridge has three lanes in each direction, with a toll-free bypass for local traffic in Runcorn town center. The key operating principles for the project included:

Accountability 

A 100% in-house customer care service, including telephone and walk-in centers, allows the operator to constantly improve customer satisfaction while adjusting to rapidly changing consumer behaviors, particularly on the part of the Millennial generation.

Trust and Transparency

An innovative, thermal-based traffic auditing system provides local authorities with independent confirmation that all toll revenue is duly collected and properly transferred to them.

Freedom

A flexible tolling solution offers users a menu of options, including RFID sticker tags, a pay-by-plate option, and microwave tags.

The bridge opened on October 14, 2017 and quickly became a preferred route for more than 70,000 users per day. The project also funded the refurbishment of the original Silver Jubilee Bridge, while keeping that historic structure in public hands. The refurbishment included conversion of one lane into a toll-free pedestrian and bicycle route that offers residents a safer, more sustainable option for crossing the river. The system is efficient enough that local residents can buy unlimited access to both bridges for a modest annual fee, with free access for users with disabilities.

Results

The project delivers stable, long-term toll revenue of about $70 million annually that has enabled a small borough council to reduce traffic congestion and plan for future population growth. Users save as much as an hour or more on their regular commutes. Public acceptance of the project was overwhelming, with more than 85% of potential local users pre-registered by the time the new bridge opened.

• The toll operator emphasizes excellence and continuous improvement in customer service, with 230 verification and administrative staff in its call center and walk-in facilities available to local users.
• Prior to launch, the project team established MerseyFlow as a strong, widely-recognized brand that supported an aggressive and successful pre-marketing strategy.
• A competitive public-private partnership (PPP) tendering process produced a £250-million cost saving compared to the original engineering estimate.
• Construction emphasized local hiring, with more than 5,000 employees devoting five million person-hours to engineering and construction.

Patience, persistence, and a commitment to community involvement and outreach made the difference for the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) when it launched the Selmon West Extension Project, the third attempt in 25 years to advance a project to reduce congestion along Gandy Boulevard in Tampa, Florida. Earlier plans that called for removal of homes and businesses along the corridor produced fierce community opposition. When THEA took over the project in 2009, its engineers proposed a different solution—an elevated toll lane along the median that would fit the narrow roadway and leave surrounding buildings intact. On the heels of the “Great Recession,” that plan still made business and community leaders nervous and was put on hold. But by 2014, population growth significantly increased congestion and raised concerns about evacuation preparedness in the event of a major hurricane. THEA worked closely with local leaders to reintroduce the elevated road design to maximize regional connectivity. To get the project completed, the THEA team changed their approach and focused on community involvement and outreach. This included a marketing campaign to respond to the concerns of businesses that believed they would be negatively affected by the construction. It also including hosting events to draw more customers to the Gandy Boulevard corridor, a social media initiative to engage customers, and earned media opportunities for local businesses on local television networks. The project, which had failed to launch on four previous occasions, received the endorsement of four Chambers of Commerce and minimal push back from the neighboring communities as a direct result of the grassroots outreach and strategic marketing plan that THEA created for the shopping district.

Catch it Early is the mantra for a new geographic information system (GIS) web application created by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The application helps duty officers respond proactively to traffic flow and travel times across the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Historically, the Computer Aided Dispatch System (CADs) database was used to track fire stations and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers that service various sections of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The PTC's GeoAnalytics team in conjunction with the Traffic, Engineering and Operations (TEO) department, developed a suite of tools to increase the visual awareness of traffic operations. The PTC partnered with Waze, AccuWeather, INRIX and Verizon, to gain access to real-time data-feeds. GIS applications and dashboards were developed to display real-time data feeds, video, photos, radar, wind, travel speeds, weather, traffic conditions and the PTC safety and truck locations. These data layers help users and duty officers quickly identify major traffic incidents. With this suite of tools, the PTC is able to "Catch it Early, Act, Analyze and Review" (CAAR). The applications and dashboards allow the TEO to quickly detect, view, and evaluate affected areas and identify relevant emergency service providers for any given section of monitored roadway.

The charge to Electronic Transaction Consultants Corporation (ETC) from the Central United States Interoperability (CUSIOP) Hub project was to design, develop, test and implement a new interoperability hub system that complied with U.S. national interoperability standards and facilitated transaction processing, reporting and reconciliation for the seven (7) participating agencies in the CUSIOP coalition in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. CUSIOP member agencies include Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority (FBCTRA), Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA), Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA), Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA), North Texas Toll Authority (NTTA), and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).  The project replaced the existing Team TX Interoperability Hub, which had also been previously developed by ETC. The CUSIOP Hub will be processing transactions from other regional hubs in the very near future in the run up to achieve nationwide interoperability, using standardized protocols for file transfer and transaction processing. It is the very first multi-state hub that meets the new standards set for National Interoperability (NIOP), paving the way for the rest of the nation to follow suit. Furthermore, CUSIOP is the foundation underlying and enabling the region’s multimodal future, as the platform could be expanded to process data from non-tolling agencies and services, such as transit, ride-share and commercial parking. Thanks to the IBTTA’s Interoperability Committee that developed the national standards in collaboration with stakeholders across the nation, CUSIOP’s member agencies’ leadership and ETC’s innovative design, the seven member agencies are currently at 95% compliance with the national standard, and the system is expected to achieve 100% compliance in late 2019. To date, CUSIOP has processed nearly 1B transactions and more than $1B in revenue.

On November 9, 2019, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) began tolling the SR 99 tunnel. WSDOT began tolling to repay $200 million in construction bonds borrowed to build the tunnel, and to fund the ongoing cost of operating and maintaining a safe facility. This funding is part of the $3.3 billion investment to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct and rebuild SR 99 through Seattle.  

The SR 99 tunnel, which opened in Feb. 4, 2019, was constructed to replace the seismically vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct built on Seattle's waterfront. WSDOT decided to open the tunnel toll-free for several months during demolition of the existing viaduct to keep traffic and freight moving through Seattle. This also allowed for time to test the roadway toll equipment.  With several other major transportation projects occurring in Seattle at the same time, tolling had the capability to significantly affect how drivers get through the city. To minimize diversion from tolls and ensure drivers understood how tolling works, WSDOT developed and executed a plan to maximize outreach efforts, identify opportunities and risks, and facilitate coordination with project partners. You can learn more about the SR 99 Tunnel here.  WSDOT produced a 6½-minute YouTube video, complete with close-up action sequences and before-and-after photos on the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

SunTrax is a state-of-the-art facility being developed by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) dedicated to the research, development, and testing of tolling and other emerging transportation technologies in safe and controlled environments. Situated on 475 acres centrally located between Tampa and Orlando in Polk County, Florida, SunTrax is composed of a 2.25-mile-long oval test track around a 200-acre infield. The multi-lane track replicates typical Florida highway conditions, with a design speed of 70 mph.

SunTrax is being developed in two phases. The first phase of construction was completed in May 2019, and it included all the infrastructure needed for FTE to perform independent testing of both current and future toll technologies. This completed phase features the multi-lane oval track offering opportunities to test multiple technologies simultaneously. Also housed here is a LEED-Certified operations center featuring exceptional training and testing facilities with fiber-optic track connections.

On the multi-lane reversible track, there are four toll sites that mirror FTE's existing field sites, which can also be adapted to test equipment from different vendors in a variety of scenarios.

SunTrax provides unprecedented access for simulations, relieving the need to close active lanes. Truck platooning, autonomous vehicles and toll transactions have been successfully conducted. Connected vehicles and infrastructure testing is vital to deliver holistic mobility solutions for all citizens by improving driver, cyclist, and pedestrian safety.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FTE, like many tolling entities, faced some challenging issues. On March 19, 2020, FTE removed cash toll collectors at plazas in order to ensure our staff and customers were as safe as possible during the initial outbreak of the pandemic. The decision was made to collect cash tolls via a "toll by plate" technology. At the same time, SunTrax played a key role in tolls testing of all-electronic tolling equipment by multiple vendors at the tolls test track. The tolls testing teams comprised of vendors, General Engineering Consultant (GEC) staff, and FDOT staff all practiced the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on social distancing, hand washing, face coverings and gloves when performing tests on the track or analyzing the data in the operations room. FTE is happy to report that there were no incidents of staff contracting COVID-19 during this increased testing period. As the State of Florida began to safely reopen, FTE made the decision to place the cash collectors back in the toll booths as of June 1, 2020. FTE continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and follows the lead of Governor Ron DeSantis on this issue.

FTE has developed a robust and dynamic website (suntraxfl.com) in order to keep the tolling and automotive technology community updated with the latest news from SunTrax. The website shows photos and renderings of the facility and live feeds of the ongoing Phase 2 construction.

Phase 2 of the SunTrax program will develop the 200-acre infield inside the oval track into a center for the development of connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies. SunTrax is one of only a few facilities in the world designed from the ground up specifically for CAV testing.

As a proving ground that is open for lease by private companies, the facility also addresses all the following key operational considerations:

• Safety of all users, visitors, and staff
• User needs for workshop spaces, specialty test equipment, data storage, communications, food service, etc.
• Management of user access between different areas and test sectors
• Overall site security and user privacy considerations
• Emergency services management

Learn more about SunTrax.

Recognized as the No. 1 project on the 2018 Roads & Bridges Top 10 Roads list, the Northwest Corridor (NWC) Express Lanes represents the largest single investment in Georgia’s transportation infrastructure and one of the most transformative projects in state history. Acknowledged as the most innovative and complex express lanes project in the country due to being a fully reversible system spanning across two counties and two interstates, as well as a dual-agency endeavor. These Express Lanes not only improve traffic flow, they have provided enhanced transit opportunities, boosted mobility, and driven economic development.

The project extends along I-75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee Counties, northwest of the city of Atlanta. This 29.7-mile reversible tolled system (traveling southbound toward Atlanta in the morning commute and northbound in the evening) included the design of four new Express Lane access interchanges on I-75, 14 slip ramp access points along I-75 and I-575, and 39 bridges with lengths totaling approximately 27,500 LF and deck area totaling 1.02 million SF.

The project was delivered through a P3 and DBF model that ensured an on-time and on-budget delivery. The DBF model was streamlined to include less private financing and greater control for the state.

HNTB Corporation served as the Program Management Consultant (PMC) for the project, which was led by the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (Georgia DOT) Office of Innovative Delivery (OID) and is operated by the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA).

Learn more about Georgia’s Northwest Corridor Express Lanes.

In 2019, the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission (OTIC) launched a multi-phased project to not only articulate the Ohio Turnpike's long-range strategic priorities (i.e., strategy development) but to ensure that day-to-day decisions and activities align with those priorities (i.e., strategy execution). OTIC wanted to be among the approximately 30 percent of organizations that successfully bridge the gap between strategy and execution. Most organizations conduct some form of periodic strategic planning: they develop Missions and Visions; they articulate Core Values; they identify long-term Strategic Objectives; etc. Simply developing such a strategic plan is not enough to ensure success. Bridging the gap between strategy and execution was key for OTIC to accelerate success. To accomplish this, OTIC took a page out of the high-tech playbook and implemented the Objectives and Key Results (i.e., OKR) methodology to guide day-to-day implementation of the Turnpike's strategic priorities. OTIC's strategy execution program has yielded tangible, measurable improvements in tolling performance and increased management accountability and transparency; all during a time of unprecedented global challenges caused by the unanticipated COVID-19 pandemic.

The ERC Connecting Communities Program is our commitment to good corporate citizenship. In 2020 we promised to make meaningful contributions and cultivate community partnerships that support the health, education, and environment of residents in Portsmouth and Norfolk; the two cities that the Elizabeth River Tunnels connect. And, because of COVID-19's impact, we saw an even greater need to connect the most vulnerable members of our community to much-needed resources. We consolidated our efforts into a few key sectors: Scholarships/Education, Health/Homelessness, and the Environment.

• Tidewater Community College (TCC) STEM Promise Program: The goal is to increase the number of STEM degrees awarded to women and to minority students. Through ERC's annual contribution, 20 students pursuing STEM programs will earn their associate degrees tuition-free.
• ERC Good Citizen Scholarship: Our scholarship rewards local students who make positive contributions to their school and community. Annually, one senior from each of the eight public high schools in Norfolk and Portsmouth receive a $1,500 scholarship toward any college, trade school or post-secondary institution expense. ERC renews the scholarship for each recipient for up to 4 years.
• Connecting Opportunities Program with the Hampton Roads Workforce Council (HRWC) and Tidewater Community College (TCC) Skilled Trades Academy: ERC partnered with the HRWC and TCC to create a new program that brings locally underserved and under-skilled community members to higher-paying, more stable opportunities. The Connecting Opportunities Program provides funds for 30 students (1/3 veterans) per year to receive training and employment assistance for in-demand construction and maritime trades.
• STARBASE Academy: Historically, Portsmouth Public School 4th-6th graders were brought to the STARBASE facility for four STEM education sessions. In 2020, they made the program virtual by creating Project SCOUT (STARBASE Connections & Outreach Using Technology).
• Norfolk Tides Reading & Batter Up Statistics Youth Education Programs: To connect local youth with the educational aspects of baseball through reading and mathematics, ERC worked with the Tides to create a program that offers students ticket vouchers for completing their Tides-administered Reading and Statistics Program materials.
• The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore: In 2020, the Foodbank Backpack Program started drive-thru food distribution to keep contact minimal, and ERC increased its annual donation to allow the program to keep up with increased demand and expand its territory.
• Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia: For seniors 60+, this organization transitioned to emergency mode during the pandemic—delivering more than 3,000 meals per week and helped alleviate social isolation through virtual resources.
• Mercy Chefs: In the face of Covid-19, Mercy Chefs distributed professionally prepared, nutritious freezer-packed meals to residents.
• HOPE Charitable Services: During the pandemic, they worked tirelessly to assist at-risk children and struggling families with food resources, academic reinforcement and more.
• Oasis Social Ministry: Oasis served nutritious breakfasts and lunches to-go seven days a week, offered a drive‐up food pantry three days a week, and distributed groceries and clothing to seniors.
• Elizabeth River Project: As local field trips to the Elizabeth River Project's (ERP) 120-foot Learning Barge were canceled in 2020, ERC helped ERP purchase a van to create a "Learning Barge on Wheels", a mobile classroom that travels directly to neighborhoods, schools, and youth groups, delivering the hands-on science and river education activities.
• Elizabeth River Trail: ERC helped open a new Double Turbo Challenge Course on the trail. In addition to ERC's financial support, our operations and maintenance teams added lights near and around the park, made minor landscaping and structural changes to surrounding areas, and are currently evaluating ways to bring a water supply to the park.
• Hampton Roads Transit: Per an agreement signed in 2013, ERC makes an annual "Support Services" payment of $2,145,000 to Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) to enhance and expand transit services between Portsmouth and Norfolk. ERC's "Support Services" include the leasing of seven 40-ft buses, labor, fuel, maintenance, and insurance. The buses are not obligated to pay tolls at our tunnels.
• VDOT Toll Relief Program: To help ease the financial burden of the tolls on Norfolk and Portsmouth residents, ERC funds the program by contributing $500,000 annually and will continue to do so until 2037. Through the program, eligible residents can receive refunds when they take eight or more trips per month through the Elizabeth River Tunnels.

The newly completed Selmon West Extension is an elevated 1.9-mile two-lane roadway located in Tampa, FL, which connects to the Selmon Expressway. The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) began construction of the $230 million project in December 2017 and completed it in April 2021.

The Selmon Extension offers drivers a choice to either stay on Gandy Boulevard for local destinations or use the Extension for regional "pass-through" trips. The opening marks the second time in 15 years that THEA has built a first-of-its-kind superstructure in the United States. In 2006, THEA completed the Selmon Expressway's Reversible Express Lanes (REL), an all-electronic, elevated express lane project.

Gandy Boulevard (State Road 600/U.S. 92) in South Tampa is heavily utilized by drivers who commute to or from neighboring Pinellas County, making this road extremely congested, particularly during peak hours. Over the years, there were various proposals to widen the roadway, but these attempts failed due to public opposition, additional right-of-way requirements, and funding constraints.

Recognizing that regional and local traffic volumes would continue to increase due to large-scale migration to Tampa Bay, THEA proposed an alternative to widening the existing roadway.

The Selmon West Extension is elevated and constructed within the 30-foot median located in Gandy Boulevard. All work is within the existing THEA and Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) right-of-way. By removing the "pass-through" traffic coming to and from the Gandy Bridge, the Selmon Extension creates at least 35% greater capacity on Gandy Boulevard for neighborhood traffic and customers of Gandy Boulevard businesses. The project was advertised as an adjusted score (best value) design-build project on January 20, 2017. THEA's Board of Directors approved the selection of the Kiewit Corporation/AECOM team on July 24, 2017, and the design-build firm was issued a Notice to Proceed by THEA on September 25, 2017.

The Kiewit team proposed an elegant extradosed tendon concrete segmental viaduct for most of the length along Gandy Boulevard, transitioning to steel tub girders shaped and painted to match the segmental portion at the interchange on the east end of the project. The bridge foundation consists of 55 piers and caps supported by four redundant drilled shafts for each pier. The extradosed tendons (similar to a cable-stayed bridge with the cables encased in concrete finbacks) allow a shallow superstructure and longer spans between piers, which is particularly critical at the Westshore and Manhattan intersections. The elevated bridge is three different bridge types combined. These include precast concrete segments, steel tub girders, and prestressed concrete beams. A total of 744 segments were precast offsite and transported to the
95 project site for erection and post-tensioned into the viaduct structure. Over 1400 ground improvement piles were installed within the interchange area to support the ramps and MSE walls.

The Selmon Extension has a unique design that has never been built in the United States. These fins are not just for aesthetics, they help support the bridge deck that enables longer span lengths between pier columns and allows a reduced height cross-section for the precast segments.

Back in 2017, THEA asked the community to vote on the Selmon Extension's aesthetic design. The Tampa Bay community overwhelmingly chose the "Estuary" design for the Extension's columns and fins, the cream-and-blue pattern representing nature envisioned in the form of a river delta.

THEA also listened to the business community's concerns and designed a 30' bridge, double the height of a standard bridge, to ensure the visibility of the businesses on both sides of Gandy Boulevard. The Construction Engineering Inspection (CEI) and Public Involvement Team personally visited approximately 70 Gandy Boulevard businesses and continued ongoing communications throughout the project with existing and new businesses. Since construction, 13 new businesses have opened along Gandy Boulevard. THEA listened to the community and kept its promises from ensuring easy access and visibility for businesses along the Gandy Corridor to keeping a commitment to the project renderings and final superstructure.

Learn more about the promises kept and made - a rarity in big projects like this - at https://www.tampa-xway.com/promises-made-promises-kept/, including how toll revenues and bonds fully funded the Selmon West Extension without using any taxpayer dollars.

Starting in January 2022, the E-470 Public Highway Authority lowered toll rates for all its customers despite the pandemic. The Authority’s debt and financial management strategy during the pandemic focused on achieving a long-standing goal of reducing and leveling the debt service profile. Throughout the pandemic, the Authority didn’t request or seek state and federal funds. Instead, it relied only  on strategic planning and financial strategies to ensure its capital plan, debt plan, and overall credit rating remained strong. Even with the economic downturn, E-470’s Board of Directors extended 2020 toll rates through 2021 without any toll rate increases. The Board also approved the 2020 bond refunding plan and updates to the Authority’s debt management policy, which included for the first time, financial goals for the future. These goals included debt service coverage levels, bond ratings, fund balance levels, toll rate management, and self-funding its capital program and paying off debt early, if possible. This enabled the Authority to move forward with its long-standing goals to restructure and level its future debt service profile, achieve $80 million in savings in the 2020 bond transaction, additional savings with the 2021 bond transaction of $2 million, as well as lower toll rates for all customers.

Between 2015 and 2018, more than 2,000 people were killed nationwide by wrong-way drivers. In Indiana, the ITR Concession Company (ITR) finds that unacceptable. In 2019, ITR reached out to trusted partners and began designing a wrong-way detection system that focused on the two overwhelming root causes of a driver entering the road in the wrong direction—intoxication and confusion. The system has safely identified 65 separate incidents of a patron traveling the wrong way on a mainline ramp through active and concentrated alerts to wrong-way drivers, advanced warning to patrons on the road, immediate alarming into ITR’s Traffic Management Center and Indiana State Police, and alerts to all management staff. All 65 wrong-way drivers safely corrected their travel and continued in the proper direction without a single accident.

In 2012, the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA)–operators of State Routes 73, 133, 241 and 261 in Orange County, Calif.–became the nation’s first tolling agency to offer a free app for account management. Since then, the app has become a core component of TCA’s customer service offering. The app–available for download via the App Store or Google Play–is regularly updated to make The Toll Roads experience even more convenient and user-friendly for drivers. Today, the app allows users to open a new account, manage an existing account, pay tolls without an account, resolve violations and more. Each year the app is used to make approximately 350,000 payments, and each month it has approximately 37,000 new downloads. Of all new accounts, 13 percent are established via the app, and 13 percent of all tolls paid without an account are paid using the app.

ETC was chartered to develop and implement an integrated Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) application initially for use by Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA). The ARM application was specifically designed and developed to collect on past due receivables along with the functionality to perform hearings, adjudication, and/or litigation. The ARM application was to be integrated with the ETC riteHorizon Back Office System implemented at HCTRA, along with electronic delivery of data and documents to the Harris County Attorney Office and County Clerk’s Office. The ARM application is a consolidated solution with the integration of advanced technologies, including a modern low-code user interface (UI) and cloud infrastructure, and can be integrated easily with any back-office system, tolling or otherwise. The system provides seamless integration across the various processes, with a clear timeline for each collection and legal action escalation points. This enables users to quickly evaluate each case and decide on the next steps.

This project represents the first hub-to-hub connection between two regional interoperability hubs (Central and Southeast) within the U.S. tolling industry in which national business rules and national interface standards have been used for processing transactions. The implementation process engaged customer service, communications, financial, legal, and technical teams from both regions working together to ensure the success of this project with a positive impact for our customers. The role of a Regional Hub Custodian was implemented to establish a single point of contact for customer service between regions to oversee reconciliation and settlement of transactions, disputes, and corrections.

• The initial agencies participating from the Southeast Region are Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE), Lee County Florida (LCF), Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) and Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA).
• The initial agencies participating from the Central Region are Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA), North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), and Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA).

"Responsibility Matters" is the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's (PTC) ongoing initiative to deliver on its core value of instilling "diversity, integrity, and sustainability in all our practices." With a 30-year commitment to sustainable best practices, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) aims to become America's First Sustainable Superhighway by 2040. To get there, the PTC's employee-led Sustainability Committee evaluates all transportation projects and business processes to help the agency reach its goal.  The Commission formally adopted the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, identifying 17 key areas, including infrastructure, affordable and clean energy, sustainable communities, responsible production and consumption, and climate action. The PTC incorporates these goals into all its decisions and operations. The PTC Sustainability Committee's core responsibilities include: 

• Establishing core principles and goals to guide decision-making and policy development; 
• Developing programmatic approaches and milestones to advance sustainability.
• Promoting sustainability activities at meetings, workshops, and conferences to improve the collaborative culture within and outside the organization.
• Developing specialized workplace training that focuses on local and national sustainability initiatives.
• Identifying funding opportunities to support the sustainability plan.

The North Texas Tollway Authority's (NTTA) new back-office system processes and reconciles toll transactions on NTTA's approximately 1,100 center lane miles of toll roads, our partners' managed lanes, and from tolling agencies across Texas and four interoperable states. The system also processes parking transactions from two local airports. It enables online account management for transponder and pay-by-mail customers via website and mobile application.

The system was built with a modular architecture for easy integration and "plug-n-play" capabilities to expand and provide toll services to other agencies, third-party payment and fleet providers, and operationally critical services, enabling innovation and enhanced functionality. NTTA's goal was to replace a 20-year-old tolling back-office system with a system that accurately manages data with the highest level of cyber security and data privacy while achieving these key objectives: 1) modular architecture for flexibility with integrations to any number of third-party systems and core services, 2) configurable business rules engine, 3) enhanced customer service options and streamlined processes, 4) expanded capabilities for future innovation, and 5) traceability through the transaction lifecycle.  

The system went live in January 2021 and in 2022 it processed 1 billion transactions and handled $1.6 billion in payments across all channels. In addition, it handled 5.5 million customer calls, 61 million customer communications (i.e., invoice, email, text), and 11.2 million customer logins on NTTA's customer website and mobile application. NTTA achieved its project goal and met the key objectives, and the project is considered a resounding success. The project team consisted of ViaPlus, formerly known as TollPlus (system integrator), North Highland (project management), SDI Presence (quality control), MBI Consulting and Zenisys (technical support), Technologent (infrastructure managed services), and NTTA staff.  In all, 400 people and 650,000 hours of work, including 175 NTTA employees across eight departments supported the project.