Toll Excellence Awards

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.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority introduced its traffic permitting and lane closure application to more efficiently manage the more than 850 weekly lane closure requests it receives. The electronic system replaces the previous paper-based method of collecting, resolving, and communicating requests and managing the associated traffic permits. The new operations infrastructure limits the authority’s liability, provides speedy response and approvals to contractors and, most important, delivers timely, accurate lane closure information to the travelling public.

ETAN Industries delivered FastLane—The Financial Accountability Solution for Tolling in 2013, under an emergency procurement with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX). The agency needed timely access to a complete toll-by-plate account management system, with clear financial accountability in the billing and collection process. The $17 million project delivered flexible, reliable, accurate billing, consistent, accurate reconciliation of all financial accounts, full in-house access to current operational and financial data, and superior customer service, allowing MDX to concentrate on its core expertise—building, operating, and maintaining roadways.

IBTTA’s Toll Excellence Awards recognize the very best the international tolling industry has to offer. Each year, we celebrate IBTTA member toll agencies whose creative, innovative, positive programs set a new standard of excellence. In 2015, a new award has been created to recognize the contributions made by the private sector. By providing wide recognition for a job well done, the Toll Excellence Awards speed up the transmission of new ideas and emerging practices throughout the industry.  

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

The objective of NTTA’s Toll Enforcement Remedies Program is to ensure equitable payment by all toll road drivers and guarantee fairness to the 92% of customers who pay for their use of the region’s toll roads. As of June 2013, when the Texas Legislature authorized the program by adopting Senate Bill (SB) 1792, violators owed NTTA almost $50 million in unpaid tolls.

Over the short and longer term, the program was designed to:

Reduce the percentage of transactions that are invoiced and never paid to 7.4% in 2014 and 6.5% in 2015; Increase TollTag use to 80% in 2013 and 82% in 2014; Identify previously unmatched and unpursuable transactions; Streamline the collections process for unpaid accounts.

Between June and September 2013, NTTA offered a 90-day grace period to habitual violators. To encourage payment, the agency waived administrative fees on past due tolls for any customer who opened a new TollTag account or resolved an outstanding TollTag account balance.

Vital Stats

• 50% decrease in habitual violators using toll roads

During the 90-day grace period:

• More than 694,000 calls received
• More than 71,200 front counter customers served
• 22% year-over-year increase in new TollTags distributed
• More than $4.7 million in past-due tolls collected
• More than $4.4 million obligated in 5,300 customer payment plans to settle outstanding toll bills.

Innovative Features

NTTA grounded the three-year project in a commitment to fairness and meaningful consequences for drivers who routinely use the agency’s toll roads without paying for their use. In 2012, the Authority launched a communications and outreach project to encourage toll payment and build support for tougher toll enforcement legislation. The three-pronged strategy included a “Pay Up” education campaign targeting toll scofflaws, legislative education supported by key strategic partnerships and alliances, and legislative action to formally define habitual violators, then block their vehicle registrations and ban them from toll roads until their tolls are paid.

Thanks to the Toll Enforcement Remedies Program, millions of dollars collected from unpaid tolls help the North Texas Tollway Authority maintain high-quality roads and invest in much-needed transportation infrastructure across the region. The three-month grace period at the beginning of the program resulted in more than $9 million in collections and payment plans, boosted enforcement awareness among all TollTag and ZipCash customers, improved the consistency of toll enforcement remedies across Texas, and strengthened NTTA’s relationship with stakeholders and legislators.

By collaborating with tolling entities across the state, NTTA developed a consistent, universal approach to ensure payment across all customer groups. The program is a roadmap for improving tolling operations, for NTTA and all other toll businesses, providing a template for agencies to:

• Keep faith with customers who consistently pay their tolls
• Ensure due process for habitual violators and accountability for the agency
• Provide expanded opportunities for prior notice and payment
• Improve customer access to all-electronic toll tags.

Agency Contact: Kimberly Jackson, Senior Director of Public Affairs, [email protected]

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

Roads & Transport Authority (RTA)

Purpose and Objectives

Salik (“open” or “clear” in Arabic) is Dubai’s all-electronic, Open Road Tolling (ORT) system. The primary objective of the Salik ORT System Expansion was to reduce traffic congestion on the city’s main roads by adding new tolling points to encourage diversions to alternate routes. The project involved construction of three new electronic toll collection locations with six new gates, four on Ittihad Road and two on the Airport Tunnel corridor, in order to:

• Minimize the use of right of ways by deploying new, free-flow tolling zones that do not require space for manual toll plazas; Operate efficiently and reliably, without interfering with the UAE’s GSM900 mobile phone system; Maximize vehicle image capture to support enforcement and protect revenue; Deploy all infrastructure above the roadway, with no in-road sensors or pavement modifications, and perform all maintenance above or beside the roadway, to eliminate any need for road closures and minimize traffic disruption at new tolling points.

Vital Stats

• 14 ORT lanes (one zone in each direction at seven locations)
• US$6.6 million budget, funded with internal resources
• More than 1.4 million Salik accounts
• Approximately 1.5 million transactions per day
• 13 to 30% reduction in off-peak travel times on the Ittihad Road corridor
• 43% reduction in off-peak traffic volume and 16 to 22% reduction in peak volume on the Airport Tunnel corridor
• 43% reduction in off-peak traffic volume and 10% reduction in peak volume on the Ittihad Road corridor.

Results

Project designers minimized use of the highway right of way by placing all the system’s sensors on two over-road gantries, with processing and support equipment housed in a 5.0 x 2.5-meter (16 x 8-foot), air-conditioned roadside enclosure. The sensor array includes overhead scanners for vehicle positioning and classification, an RF antenna to capture transponder data, and video imaging for enforcement.

To introduce electronic toll collection, the Roads and Transport Authority made RFID transponders available to all highway users. The system must operate at temperatures up to 85°C (185°F) and speeds up to 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour—and to accommodate extreme desert conditions, it must be powered without a battery.

The expanded system uses video capture to identify toll violators across up to seven lanes of fast, free-flowing traffic. Roadside processing systems have been optimized to manage the enormous volume of real-time imaging.

The system is reliable enough to allow for continuous, unattended operation, with high levels of redundancy and automatic failover and fault tolerance.

These success factors combined to provide Salik users with:

• The world’s largest open-road, multi-lane, free flow tolling point
• The world’s widest single-direction free flow tolling zone, at more than 44 meters (144 feet)
• The world’s first 870 MHz toll system
• The world’s first SMS customer notification system
• A dedicated service team for fleets and special accounts
• Complete over-the-road maintenance capability inside cladded gantries, so that road closures are never needed for routine maintenance.

The Authority has sold more than 620,000 Salik tags since the system opened in April, and processes 1.5 million transactions per day.

Agency Contact
Eng. Sofiene Jegham, Senior Manager - ITS Design & Implementation, ITS Department
+97 142 904969
[email protected]