Transportation Communications Newsletter

August 3, 2010 at 5:10 pm

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 – ISSN 1529-1057


IBTTA 78th Annual Meeting & Exhibition — Register Today! Early Bird Discount Ends August 22, 2010

Come to San Diego, September 12-15, 2010, for IBTTA’s 78th Annual Meeting & Exhibition, the year’s most highly-anticipated learning and networking event — attracting more than 700 toll industry experts and decision makers from across the globe. Under the theme, Sustainable Transportation, the technical program offers tracks focused on innovation, policy, the economy, and the California tolling experience. Hosted by the California Toll Operators Committee (CTOC), this event features interactive seminars, influential speakers, technical tours and special events, informative exhibits and more! Customized sponsorship and exhibitor packages are available. Visit IBTTA’s website for details.

CARTOGRAPHY

1) Bing Maps Gets Taxi Fare Calculator

Link to blog on ARS Technica:

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/08/never-be-surprised-again-bing-maps-gets-taxi-fare-calculator.ars

OTHER

2) US DOT Employees Now Have an ‘IdeaHub’ to Voice Ideas and Concerns

Link to article in The Press of Atlantic City:

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_403636fa-9f05-11df-af2a-001cc4c002e0.html

3) Articles from Public Roads

–  IntelliDrive: Safer, Smarter, Greener

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/10julaug/04.cfm

Transportation Lessons from Central Europe

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/10julaug/01.cfm

4) Give Me a Sign

A photographer’s artwork also serves as a fun game for truckers.

Link to article in RoadKing:

http://roadking.com/2010/07/give-me-a-sign-2/

PUBLIC INFORMATION / EDUCATION

5) Pennsylvania Governor to Take a Bus to Ask Citizen Support for Transportation Funds

Link to article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10215/1077147-147.stm

ROADWAYS

6) Will Texas Stadium Signs Lead to Super Confusion?

Texas DOT says the signs won’t be taken down anytime soon even though stadium was demolished over three months ago and Super Bowl happens in February.

Link to story on KXAS-TV:

http://www.nbcdfw.com/traffic/transit/Signs-Remain-Long-After-Stadium-Implosion-99844224.html

7) Keeping Roads Clear of Deer

Utah DOT implementing program that uses dual-sensory deterrents to keep deer from wandering onto roads while cars are driving by.

Link to article in Governing:

http://www.governing.com/idea-center/keeping-roads-clear-deer.html

SAFETY / SECURITY

8) ‘NEED Help!’: Biker’s Twitter Followers Call for Ambulance

Link to article in USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-08-03-twitterrescue03_st_N.htm

TRANSIT

9) DC Metro to Add Signs on How to Contact Cops

Link to article in The Examiner:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Metro-to-add-signs-on-how-to-contact-cops-1006027-99662959.html

10) DC Metro Fare Hikes Delayed Until Fare Signs are Updated

Link to article in The Examiner:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Metro-fare-hikes-delayed-until-fare-signs-are-updated-1006723-99801234.html

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

11) Police Department Goes High-Tech in Hubli and Dharwad with Opening of Traffic Management Center

Link to article in The Times of India:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hubli/Police-dept-goes-hi-tech-in-twin-cities/articleshow/6253417.cms

12) Innovation, Technology Hold Promise for Cutting Congestion

Link to article by Texas Governor Rick Perry in The Steering Wheel:

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1ogph/TheSteeringWheelSpri/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F191722%2FThe-Steering-Wheel—Spring-Summer-2010-Issue (page 45)

VEHICLES

13) Volvo’s Self-Stopping Car

Automaker has a new system that automatically brakes before your car hits pedestrians.

Link to article in Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/02/autos-brakes-pedestrians-technology-volvo.html

14) Driverless Cars Just Around the Corner

Link to article in The Kansas City Star:

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/02/2124104/driverless-cars-to-hit-the-streets.html

15) Testing iPhone 4 FaceTime with Chrysler’s In-Car Wi-Fi

Link to blog on Cars.com:

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2010/08/testing-iphone-4-facetime-with-chryslers-incar-wifi.html

News Releases

1) Navteq Launches Private Beta program for Next Generation Street-Level Imager

2) FMCSA Introduces Cargo Tank Driver Rollover Prevention Video

3) GPS Parking Using Your Mobile Phone

4) Australian Trucking Association: Electronic Truck Monitoring Must be Voluntary

5) CSX Presents $50,000 Gift to Marshall University for Research at the Rahall Transportation Institute

6) EnRoute Announces Strategic Partnership with TrafficLand

7) Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Calls for Greater Awareness of Digital Radio

8) One Week and Counting, Seattle: Get to Know Your Smarter Highway Symbols

9) US ITS Market to Top $1.4 Billion in 2010 According to IMS Research

10) US  Department of Transportation Teams with ESPN and State Farm to Go ‘On the Road’ to Wipe Out Distracted Driving

Upcoming Events

The Role of NextGen at Airports – October 3-5 – Denver

http://events.aaae.org/sites/101012/

Today in Transportation History

1900 **110th anniversary** The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded in Akron, Ohio.

http://bridgestone-firestone.ca/eng/history/default.asp

=====================================================================

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday.

To subscribe (for free) or unsubscribe, please contact me at bernie@bwcommunications.net.

TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

Questions, comments about the TCN? Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast at bernie@bwcommunications.net

© 2010 Bernie Wagenblast www.bwcommunications.net

Nuns dismayed by politicization of DUI accident.

August 3, 2010 at 5:07 pm

Decry attention on man’s status as an alleged illegal immigrant. Incident occurred Sunday morning when three nuns traveling by car was hit by an allegedly drunk driver. The crash killed one and left two others critically injured.

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com
Carlos Montano, 23, is charged in the crash.

The religious order that was home to three nuns whose car was hit Sunday morning by an alleged drunk driver in Northern Virginia said it is upset at what it views as the politicization of the incident.

Sister Glenna Smith, a spokeswoman for the Benedictine Sisters, said Tuesday that “we are dismayed” by reports that the crash, which killed one woman and critically injured two others, is focusing attention on the man’s status as an alleged illegal immigrant. Critics of federal immigration policy have seized on the crash.

“The fact the he had DUIs is really poignant, but he’s a child of God and deserves to be treated with dignity,” Smith said of the driver, Carlos A. Martinelly Montano. “I don’t want to make a pro- or anti-immigrant statement but simply a point that he is an individual human person and we will be approaching him with mercy. Denise, of all us, would be the first to offer forgiveness.”

Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

 

You think you can dance? NASA’s new rover busts a move

August 3, 2010 at 4:58 pm

The ATHLETE rover thinks it can, too. Under development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ATHLETE is a 1/2-scale working prototype of a robot for potential use on the moon or Mars. More info and pics of ATHLETE at work at: http://athlete.jpl.nasa.gov/

Holy Migration – 237-ton synagogue moves for the 2nd time in 134 years

August 3, 2010 at 4:51 pm

Washington, DC’s first synagogue moving to make way for mixed-use development:

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com

In the 134 years since a splinter group of European-born Orthodox Jews built the city’s first synagogue in downtown Washington, it has been turned over to three congregations; converted into a grocery store and a barbecue joint; slated for demolition, saved and dubbed a historic landmark; literally cut in half and torn from its foundation; and moved, inch by inch, to Third Street NW, where it was renovated and reopened as a museum in an area that has followed the city’s economic fortunes from blighted to prosperous to recession.

And now the Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum needs to be moved again — twice — for one more tiring and costly journey to enable three prime blocks, as if a miracle, to be added to downtown’s buildable area. The New York-based Louis Dreyfus Property Group struck an agreement this spring with the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington to help move the building so a deck can be added above an entrance to Interstate 395 south of Massachusetts Avenue NW, with high-rises and greenery where there is now only a recessed highway.

Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

 

Grand Theft Auto (North American Edition) – Stolen car data shows size, speed & luxury are important factors

August 3, 2010 at 4:10 pm

An interesting nugget from this Economist article: Only two of the top ten stolen cars in America (measured in terms of cash paid out by insurers) come from a foreign manufacturer.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com

Stolen cars which are most costly to insurers

Read more at www.economist.com

 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Publication – Plug-in Electric Vehicle Infrastructure: A Foundation for Electrified Transportation

August 3, 2010 at 3:41 pm

(Source: via Transportation Research Board Weekly E-Newsletter)

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has released a report that explores the components of plug-in electric vehicle infrastructure, challenges and opportunities related to the design and deployment of the infrastructure, and the potential benefits.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Moving out – U.S. withdrawal from Iraq kicks off massive logistics operation

August 3, 2010 at 2:59 pm

I hope someone captures the process on film.. It will make a great documentary for logistics and military transport professionals. It can even make for a great case study at institutions that teach logistics and transportation.

Amplify’d from www.boston.com

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq—Everything from helicopters to printer cartridges is being wrapped and stamped and shipped out of Iraq. U.S. military bases that once resembled small towns have transformed into a cross between giant post offices and Office Depots.

“We’re moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we’ve seen in decades,” President Barack Obama said in a speech Monday hailing this month’s planned withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

The orderly withdrawal is a far cry from the testosterone-fueled push across the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq, when American Marines and soldiers pushed north in the 2003 invasion, battling Saddam Hussein’s army while sleeping on the hoods of their vehicles and eating prepackaged meals.

Each handover involves a painstaking process of inventorying everything on the base that the soldiers aren’t taking with them. Every item is assessed to see if it can be moved and if so, whether it is needed anywhere else in the country. Many of the materials – water tanks, generators, and furniture – are eventually donated to the Iraqi government. As of July 27, $98.6 million worth of equipment has been handed over, most to the Iraqi army and Interior Ministry.

More than 400 bases are being closed down or handed over to the Iraqi military. By September, the American military will have fewer than 100 bases in the country, down from a high of 505 in January 2008.

The drawdown has not been without hiccups. The military was embarrassed by a report in the Times of London that contractors did not properly dispose of environmental waste removed from U.S. military bases.

But U.S. commanders say they are addressing problems and are confident they will be able to meet the president’s deadline.

Demartino said that while going through shipping containers, buildings and offices at Joint Base Balad, soldiers have been stunned at the materials hoarded over the years in nooks and crannies all over the base.

The biggest surprise was the thousands of printer cartridges tucked away by soldiers worried they would one day run out.


FILE - In this July 3, 2010 file photo, Iraqi truck drivers use hand signals to help guide a U.S. military mine-resistant armored vehicle (MRAP) onto a flat bed truck set to leave Iraq at a staging yard at Joint Base Balad, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Everything from helicopters to printer cartridges are being wrapped and stamped and shipped out of Iraq in one of the most monumental withdrawal operations the American military has ever carried out as U.S. forces flow out of the country. The move is reversing, over the course of months, a U.S. military presence that built up over seven years and dug in so deep it once seemed immovable. More than 400 bases are being closed down or handed over to the Iraqi military, some closer to small towns with elaborate dining facilities serving tacos and crab legs and gyms with rows of treadmills.
FILE – In this July 3, 2010 file photo, Iraqi truck drivers use hand signals to help guide a U.S. military mine-resistant armored vehicle (MRAP) onto a flat bed truck set to leave Iraq at a staging yard at Joint Base Balad, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Everything from helicopters to printer cartridges are being wrapped and stamped and shipped out of Iraq in one of the most monumental withdrawal operations the American military has ever carried out as U.S. forces flow out of the country. The move is reversing, over the course of months, a U.S. military presence that built up over seven years and dug in so deep it once seemed immovable. More than 400 bases are being closed down or handed over to the Iraqi military, some closer to small towns with elaborate dining facilities serving tacos and crab legs and gyms with rows of treadmills.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

Read more at www.boston.com

 

Bad idea, foo… Roads are not for dancing!

August 3, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Oh man.. How could someone be so dumb.. You can go all American Idol anywhere you please but not on roads or places where there are moving vehicles..

#Mexico City starts to breathe easy – Govt. efforts to cut down vehicle emissions works

August 2, 2010 at 5:59 pm

Efforts such as strict vehicular emissions checks and car free days help in curbing the air pollution and cited for improvement in air quality.

Amplify’d from www.economist.com
A breath of fresh air

The capital’s filthy atmosphere has improved at last

HEMMED in by mountains and volcanoes, Mexico City is the perfect smog-trap. At its altitude of 2,250m the air is already thin; on days when the toxic “cream”, as the familiar brown cloud of pollution is locally known, descends on the city, it is hard to breathe. Locals used to joke that the only life that could survive in the skies was jumbo jets.

Yet the smog is lifting. The average concentration of ozone, one of the most common pollutants, is about half its level in the early 1990s, when the air was at its dirtiest (see chart). In those days the national ozone limit of 0.11 parts per million was breached for at least an hour on nine days out of ten. Yet last year over half the days were below the cap. Joggers are back in parks and wildlife is airborne once more: a hummingbird regularly looks in on The Economist’s offices.

More recently, a car crackdown has helped: old bangers are checked twice a year for emissions, and all but the newest cars are forbidden from driving in the city on one day of each week. Every Sunday 22km of roads in the centre are roped off for bikes and pedestrians. From next year taxi drivers will be offered tax incentives to use electric technology. Mexico City’s pollution has been so severe that cleaning up the environment “is not a theoretical thing—it’s about life and death,” says Marcelo Ebrard, the mayor.

Read more at www.economist.com

 

Bernie’s Transportation Communications Newsletter (TCN) – August 2, 2010

August 2, 2010 at 5:24 pm

Monday, August 2, 2010 – ISSN 1529-1057


The Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation announces the launch of Drive Safely Work Week (DSWW) 2010: Focus … Safe driving is serious business.

The DSWW 2010 tool kit is available FREE from NETS now through Sept. 20 at www.trafficsafety.org.

The 2010 campaign materials focus on the dangers of distracted driving, particularly as related to the use of cell phones and texting.  The tool kit provides easy-to-use resources to support targeted activities for each day of the campaign week. These include interactive, electronic tools, downloadable graphics and daily communications messages.  DSWW 2010 is Oct. 4-8; however, materials are designed for use at any time throughout the year.  To preview the materials, go to:http://trafficsafety.org/drivesafelyworkweek.

AVIATION

1) GAGAN is Undergoing Final Operational Phase: Airports Authority of India

System will augment satellite navigation for flights over India.

Link to article in The Hindu:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article546009.ece

2) ’85 Delta 191 Disaster at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Gave Rise to Broad Safety Overhaul

Better weather threat detection and changes to how pilots communicate resulted from crash.

Link to article in The Dallas Morning News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-delta191_02bus.ART.State.Edition1.3569cb4.html

3) Comair Mechanics Withdraw from Safety Program

Link to AP article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Comair-mechanics-withdraw-apf-2340998509.html?x=0&.v=2

BICYCLES

4) The Technology Behind the London Bicycle Hire Scheme

Link to article in The Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/7919285/The-technology-behind-the-London-bicycle-hire-scheme.html

CAMERAS

5) Swiss Test Traffic Super Cameras

Devices will be able to detect up to ten traffic offenses.

Link to AFP article:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/swiss-test-traffic-super-cameras-20100801-111ci.html

6) Pennsylvania Governor’s Idea to Use Highway Cameras to Identify Uninsured Drivers Draws Criticism

Link to article in The Patriot-News:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/07/gov_ed_rendells_idea_to_use_hi.html

GPS / NAVIGATION

7) China Launches New Global Positioning Satellite

Link to Reuters article:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=11298077

8) Japan Mobile Phone Makers to Roll Out ‘Augmented Reality’

Phones will help users find their ways around large cities.

Link to AFP article:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWCp-IQl65eCp7mavRx1gkLbqTKg

9) GPS May be Everywhere, but New York City EMS Crews Don’t Have Them

Link to article in amNew York:

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/gps-may-be-everywhere-but-ems-crews-don-t-have-them-1.2163027

OTHER

10) West Virginia Hosts National Rural ITS Conference

Link to AP article:

http://wvgazette.com/News/201008020198

11) In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers

Link to article in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/technology/02traffic.html

12) Does Surveillance Make Us Morally Better?

Link to article in Philosophy Now:

http://www.philosophynow.org/issue79/79westacott.htm

13) Dude, Where’s Your Car?

How not having a car became Hollywood shorthand for loser.

Link to article in Slate:

http://www.slate.com/id/2262214/

14) Current Issue of Volpe Highlights

Link to newsletter:

http://www.volpe.dot.gov/infosrc/highlts/10/julaug/index.html

ROADWAYS

15) Chicago Not Amused by Radio Stunt

Construction ‘alerts’ promote WJMK-FM, concert.

Link to article in the Chicago Sun-Times:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2552514,CST-NWS-jack31.article

SAFETY / SECURITY

16) Bipartisan Bill Would Block FCC from Seizing Spectrum

Link to article on Nextgov:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100730_4887.php

17) For No Signs of Trouble, Kill the Alarm

‘Alarm fatigue’ blamed, in part, for DC Metro collision, airliner crashes.

Link to article in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/weekinreview/01wald.html

18) Most Teens Still Driving While Distracted

Link to article in USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-08-02-teendrivers02_ST_N.htm

19) Rhode Island DMV Helps Finger a Criminal Without Prints

Link to article in The Providence Journal:

http://www.projo.com/news/content/no_fingerprints_07-31-10_U9JCTJA_v18.21cbbba.html

20) Senior Traffic Deaths Down, California DMV Cites Senior Driver-Oriented Web Links in Helping Keep Older Drivers Behind the Wheel

Link to blog in the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15656544

21) YouTube Veil Video Sparks Airline Safety Probe

Link to CBC News story:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2010/08/02/veil-video002.html

22) The TSA’s Secure Flight Initiative May be Making Your Privacy Less Secure

Link to column in The Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/30/AR2010073003907.html

TRANSIT

23) For Most Boston T Riders, the Long Wait for a Bus Location App is Over

Link to article in The Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/08/01/for_most_t_riders_the_long_wait_for_a_bus_location_app_is_over/

24) Manchester’s Bus Timetable Data Sets Released

Link to article in The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/30/manchester-gmpte-open-data-odm-bus-transport

25) Maryland Transit Administration Could Learn from Slaying

Better information, from signage to GPS-tracking, could make transit travel safer.

Link to column in The Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-20100802,0,5380901.story

TRAVELER INFORMATION / TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

26) Upgrade Will Improve Quality of Tennessee Traffic Cameras

Link to article and video in the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/aug/01/zooming-camera-upgrades/

27) Smarter Highways Coming to Washington State’s I-5 August 10

Link to further information from Washington State DOT:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/smarterhighways/

VEHICLES

28) NPR Offers Video of Captioned Radio

Joint venture with Delphi develops dual-screen, in-vehicle unit that shows navigation to driver and captioning to passenger.

Link to article in Radio Ink:

http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=1895844&spid=24698

Link to video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70Mx8FnDd6g

29) Presentations from July 20 IntelliDrive Safety Workshop Now Available

Link to presentations:

http://www.its.dot.gov/presentations/Safety_workshop2010/safety_workshop_presentations.htm

News Releases

1) FHWA Announces $9.7 Million in Grants to Fund Innovative Approaches to Congestion

2) US and EU Announce Collaboration on the Use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems

3) PBSJ Announces Plans to Join with Atkins – PBSJ to Become Subsidiary

4) Miami Traffic Cameras Go Live with TrafficLand Service

5) US DOT, Seventeen Magazine, and AAA Launch  National Two-Second Turnoff Day Video Challenge

6) Ford Researchers Advancing Crash Avoidance Capability with Wireless Technology

7) ATX Transitions In-Vehicle Telematics Safety to Mobile Emergency Management of Crashes Across Emergency Response Chain

8) Vector Capital Announces Successful Close to Acquisition of Trafficmaster

Solicitation

–  Request for Letters of Interest – I-15 ITS Design-Build – Nevada Department of Transportation

http://www.nevadadot.com/business/contractor/consultant/pdfs/I-15_ITS_LOI.pdf

Upcoming Events

National Parking Association Annual Convention and Exposition – October 11-14 – Boston

http://npapark.org/events_convention.php

Today in Transportation History

1610 **400th anniversary** Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay.

http://www.ianchadwick.com/hudson/hudson_04.htm

======================================================================

The Transportation Communications Newsletter is published electronically Monday through Friday.

To subscribe (for free) or unsubscribe, please contact me at bernie@bwcommunications.net.

TCN archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications

Questions, comments about the TCN?  Please write the editor, Bernie Wagenblast at bernie@bwcommunications.net.

© 2010 Bernie Wagenblast  www.bwcommunications.net