A global leader in applied informatics for the transportation industry, Iteris has confirmed a US$5.5m initial contract for its role in the I-405 Improvement Project in Southern California.
With a budget of more than US$1bn, the I-405 Improvement project on one of the
busiest freeway segments in the USA is the largest yet project undertaken by Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), in cooperation with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
Iteris began work on the project in March, on infrastructure design. This is expected to run through 2018, and includes freeway intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and express lane infrastructure design, temporary ITS infrastructure for use during construction, development of the project traffic management plan, and traffic signal design at 42 intersections along the corridor.
The ITS and express lanes elements to be designed by Iteris include: variable message signs (VMS), CCTV cameras, vehicle detection, ramp metering, and communications networks for both ITS and the express lanes. Designed to shorten commute times for the 370,000 drivers that use the route daily, the widening project will add four lanes: two general-purpose lanes and two tolled express lanes.
An OCTA study concluded that by 2040, travel during rush hour through the regular lanes of this 16 mile- (25.7km-) stretch of I-405, from SR-73 to I-605, will take just 29 minutes. The commute can be reduced to 13 minutes if a driver chooses to take the new express lanes. Without the widening project, it would take two hours and 13 minutes to travel the same stretch in regular lanes, and two hours in the current carpool lanes.
“This iconic project brings together the best practices for project design and delivery for smarter mobility,” said Ramin Massoumi, general manager and senior vice president of Transportation Systems at Iteris. “The ITS design incorporates leading technologies to ensure safety of motorists, simplified traffic management and improved travel times.”
