Leading Norwegian supplier of ITS products and services Q-Free has announced that its US division, Q-Free Open Roads, has been awarded a tolling contract from TransCore valued at Nkr11m (US$1.4m).
As a sub-contractor, Q-Free Open Roads will provide its Intrada Synergy Server product and services for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority’s (NCTA) roadside toll collection project on the Monroe Expressway and US-74 Express Lanes.
The Intrada Synergy Server (ISS) platform delivers reliable vehicle identification locally or from the cloud, based on Q-Free’s leading Intrada ALPR (automatic license plate recognition) technology. ISS encompasses full scalability and ensures availability of all data with easy integration through standardized SOAP/XML webservices.
The platform processes transactions that may contain one or more images, as well as roadside ALPR results, tag numbers and other metadata. The contract begins immediately and will be delivered by July this year, followed by a five-year maintenance agreement.
In March 2017, the NCTA selected TransCore to design, build and maintain advanced roadside toll collection systems for the new Monroe Expressway and US 74 Express Lanes, both of which are expected to open later this year. The Monroe Expressway, currently under construction, extends nearly 20 miles (32km) from US 74 near I-485 in Mecklenburg County to US 74 between the towns of Wingate and Marshville in Union County.
TransCore will deploy all-electronic tolling (AET) along the expressway that will enable free-flowing travel on the new corridor. The US 74 Express Lanes project will convert bus lanes in the Charlotte area into reversible, high-occupancy, dynamically-priced express lanes that will provide increased capacity to motorists during peak travel times. The US 74 Express Lanes will feature roadside dynamic message signs (DMS) to inform motorists of variable toll rates based on the current level of congestion.
Both facilities will be equipped with TransCore’s Infinity Digital Lane System, which will consist of automatic vehicle identification, vehicle classification, and video capture and recognition systems that can automatically process transactions in high-volume traffic with some of the highest degrees of accuracy in the industry. Q-Free’s ISS platform will be integrated into the Infinity Digital Lane System.
“We are pleased to, once again, be a subcontractor to TransCore, one of the largest companies in the world providing tolling and ITS solutions,” commented James Knowlton, Q-Free Open Roads president and managing director.
“The award is significant for Q-Free Open Roads and demonstrates our continued growth and focus on image processing solutions within the tolling market.”
