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Higgins: Western New York chosen as 1 of 13 sites in the nation for coordinated traffic information system

by jmaloni

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Thu, Feb 26th 2015 04:10 pm

$200,000 federal grant to NITTEC aimed at improving real-time travel information on local highways

Congressman Brian Higgins announced $200,000 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration to include Western New York as one of 13 sites across the nation chosen to implement an integrated corridor management system to help combine technology and real-time travel information on local highways.

"A number of unique conditions play into Western New York's traffic patterns, including weather conditions and our proximity to the northern border," Higgins said. "The federal funds from this grant utilize advanced technology to improve real-time traffic information, making it easier and safer for travelers."

The grant, awarded to the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition, focuses on improving traffic flow and enhancing emergency assistance through providing real-time traffic and roadway information. The integrated corridor management deployment-planning grant will help NITTEC provide more up-to-date congestion and incident data by combining real-time information from state and local highways.

The funds will specifically be used along the I-190 corridor within the Buffalo-Niagara region, including the Peace Bridge from the I-190/I-90 interchange in the south to the I-190/I-290 interchange in the north

NITTEC is a coalition of agencies, authorities, municipalities and other entities in the Niagara Frontier region of New York and the Niagara region of Ontario. The mission of NITTEC is to improve mobility, reliability and safety on the regional binational multimodal transportation network through information sharing and coordinated management of operations.

"This is a great opportunity for the region and will enhance the existing platform we have established over the years. This project will build off of some existing efforts related to ICM that NITTEC had initiated but lacked funding to pursue further," NITTEC Executive Director Athena Hutchins said.

This week, the Federal Highway Administration awarded a total of $2.571 million in grants to 13 communities across 10 states. The green light on these integrated corridor management technology grants comes following two successful pilot projects in Texas and California. Those sites, in Dallas and San Diego, are the only two ICM systems currently operational in the U.S.

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