TransCore Selects GS&P for Team to Provide ITS Design Services for Florida Department of Transportation

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gresham, Smith and Partners, a leading national engineering, planning, architecture and interior design firm, is pleased to announce it has been contracted to support design services for an Intelligent Transportation System being developed along approximately 40 miles of I-10 and I-110 in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Contracted by TransCore ITS, LLC, GS&P will also assist in providing construction engineering and inspection coordination services as well as site and architectural guidance for a Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) to be located in Pensacola. The project aims to enhance the mobility, efficiency and safety of the freeway system in the Pensacola metro region.

“Once completed, this will allow greater coordination with surrounding jurisdictions to provide freeway users with real-time traffic information and reduce congestion with better management of planned and unplanned incidents.”

"The safety and efficiency this intelligent transportation system will provide will be invaluable for those traveling along this corridor through Pensacola," stated John Simler, TransCore ITS Group President. "Once completed, this will allow greater coordination with surrounding jurisdictions to provide freeway users with real-time traffic information and reduce congestion with better management of planned and unplanned incidents."

ITS design elements will include fiber optic and wireless communications, closed-circuit television cameras, microwave vehicle detection systems, a roadway weather information system and dynamic message signs installed at key decision points along the freeway network. Freeway management activities, safety and maintenance dispatch services, record keeping and other ITS and roadway maintenance administrative requirements will be handled from the RTMC.

"This approach to implementing a turnkey ITS for the Pensacola area will require close coordination among all members of the team," stated Marion Waters, P.E., senior vice president of ITS and traffic engineering, Gresham, Smith and Partners. "We look forward to working in conjunction with TransCore to deliver this project for FDOT, enhance their operational capabilities and to increase the efficiency and safety for motorists."

The ITS design is expected to be completed by May 2009 with the RTMC and associated Freeway Management System targeted to be fully operational by July 1, 2010.

GS&P recently completed design work on an 83-mile freeway ITS implementation for the Memphis Smartway project on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Transportation; TransCore was the contractor for this project as well. The firm was also awarded a five year on-call statewide ITS design contract from the Georgia Department of Transportation earlier in 2008.

About GS&P:

Gresham, Smith and Partners provides architecture, engineering, interior design and planning services to national and international clients from 17 offices across the United States and one in China. For more than 40 years, GS&P has provided services in multiple markets including transportation, corporate and urban design, aviation, land planning, environmental compliance, healthcare, industrial and water services. GS&P consistently ranks among the top architectural and engineering firms in the United States. For more information regarding GS&P, visit www.gspnet.com.

About TransCore:

TransCore's 70-year heritage supporting the transportation industry spans a range of offerings for the toll, traffic management, airport, parking, access control, rail, intermodal, trucking, and homeland security markets. With products and installations in 46 countries, more than 100 patents worldwide, and pioneering applications of RFID and satellite communications technologies, TransCore's expertise is unparalleled in the markets it serves. In 2008, Engineering News-Record (ENR) ranked TransCore No. 98 out of the Top 500 Design Firms. TransCore has more than 2,000 employees in 80 locations throughout the world.

TransCore operates as a unit of Roper Industries. Roper Industries is a market-driven, diversified growth company with trailing twelve month revenues of $2.3 billion, and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s S&P Mid-Cap 400, Fortune 1000 and Russell 1000 Indexes. Roper provides engineered products and solutions for global niche markets, including water, energy, radio frequency and research/medical applications.

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