The Automatic Choice
Deployed into several first-of-type tolling systems, the Idris range of automatic vehicle classification products is rapidly defining the way in which the tolling industry detects, counts and classifies road-using vehicles.
The first early express lane application using Idris Automatic Vehicle Classification (AVC) was deployed in 1999. Delaware DOT needed to expand the capacity of Biddles Corner Toll Plaza to support traffic growth. Expansion was difficult and costly, so Peek Traffic – now a Quixote company and Idris Technology Partner (ITP) – installed two express lanes and two shoulders through the center of the toll plaza. This project saw Biddles Corner become one of the earliest multi-lane express applications in the USA. The system has since been classifying vehicles to a recorded accuracy of better than 99.7%, results that saw it ed as the standard for all future express lane operations in Delaware.
The schematic illustrates the concept behind Diamond Consulting's Idris tolling lane architecture
Live traffic is the best proving ground and North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) used this to its best cost-saving advantage. As a result of traffic forecasts, the authority knew it needed a three-lane expressway. What it didn’t have was the time, funds or resources for lengthy trials. Tested in situ, Idris was installed into express lanes and tested in live traffic. The results proved the system worked and full deployment commenced. NTTA and its ITP, IMI, use Idris in all lane types, and are a self-sufficient team, capable of field repairs, maintenance and support of its own lanes. NTTA now enjoys the benefits of highly accurate, dependable and low-maintenance lane operations in both express and mixed lane environments.
Tolling is about accurate vehicle detection and classification – ensuring these accuracies at highway speeds or more is a major requirement for ORT. This was just one of the specifications set down by New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) for Exit 1 in Carneys Point Township. Idris AVC was used as part of ACS’ Vector Express Tolling Solution as it met the accuracy requirements in both congested and free-flow traffic. Exit 1 opened in the summer of 2004 and the impact was immediate. Violations dropped and there were fewer delays, which led to improved customer satisfaction and increased revenue for the client.
Accuracy
Prior to the introduction of Idris, the E-470 was employing conventional technology to perform the AVC operations in its manual lanes. Idris offered several benefits, including easier auditing, ease of data review, higher accuracy levels and lower through-life maintenance costs. Retrofitting Idris to replace conventional technology was made purely on financial grounds.
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Finance and expertise also led the way to the world’s widest ORT effort so far, the Rairtan South Toll Plaza on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway. The plaza covers five travel lanes and two shoulders of free-flowing traffic and Idris carries out the vehicle detection, tracking, classification and correlation of the onboard tag information. Idris’s capability to determine the location of vehicles and to correctly place straddling vehicles in the appropriate lane of a multi-lane environment means it is able to carry out accurate vehicle-to-tag correlation. This simplifies lane controller systems and ensures improved accuracy for vehicle identification and tracking.
Idris was pre-ed by the Illinois Tollway in 2005 for its ORT congestion-relief program, converting 20 mainline toll plazas to ORT. The proven track record, count and classification accuracy, along with its plug-and-play nature of Idris, was held to make it the only suitable solution.
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