This week, the Pennsylvania DOT (PennDOT) held a groundbreaking ceremony to highlight the start of construction on the new District 6 Regional Traffic Management Center (RTMC) located in King of Prussia, Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County.
The new PennDOT District 6 RTMC will expand the existing RTMC’s capabilities by providing a larger and more modern facility for the management of PennDOT’s intelligent transportation systems (ITS).
“The five-county Philadelphia Region has more than half of the state’s ITS, which shows how important this project is to our regional traffic management efforts,” PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian said in a statement. “This larger, more modern facility will expand our capabilities for managing safety and traffic flow.”
As PennDOT moves toward aggressively performing Transportation System Management and Operations (TSMO) responsibilities, the agency says a larger and more modern facility is essential. The new RTMC will allow PennDOT to operate Advanced Traffic Management Systems such as Variable Speed Limits, Flex Lanes, Queue Detection and Warning Systems, and Ramp Metering Operations. In addition, it will serve as the Incident Command Center (ICC) and provide seating for coordinating partner agencies such as Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC), Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), City of Philadelphia (COP), Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), Pennsylvania National Guard, counties, municipalities, and others during major incidents, special events, inclement weather, or catastrophic highway events.
PennDOT anticipates that the number of field devices will double due to increased investments in advanced technology, including connected and autonomous vehicle strategies. PennDOT will also work with various municipalities to move toward owning and operating traffic signals, known as the Green Light-Go traffic signal initiative aimed at improving safety and traffic flow.
-----------
SOURCE: PennDOT
