Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission modernizes video surveillance to monitor traffic flow and roadway incidents

Ryan Brown, President, and Stephen Dowdall, ITS Director, for Signal Service, Inc. (Image courtesy of Bosch)

May 18, 2021

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) PTC manages and responds to traffic over its 552-mile roadway system, which typically serves 500,000 customers each day. The PTC’s mission is to provide a safe, reliable, customer-valued toll road system that supports national mobility and commerce.

As part of its modernization efforts, the PTC installed 80 Autodome IP starlight 7000i cameras from Bosch, replacing its previous analog roadside cameras used to monitor traffic flow and conditions. Installed on 50 to 80 foot poles along the turnpike, the cameras help employees in the PTC’s Traffic Operations Center to fulfill their mission to quickly identify roadway incidents, disseminate information to the public, and dispatch the appropriate resources to provide a rapid response to customers in need. The new HD cameras provide the center with higher quality images, especially at night.

Needing a technology partner, the PTC selected traffic control and management solution provider Signal Service, Inc. to implement the system upgrade. The cameras are NEMA TS2-rated for transportation environments and offer H.265 compression to reduce bandwidth consumption. Signal Service worked with the PTC’s networking consultant to ensure the cameras would meet stringent data security and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compliance requirements.

Upgrading the infrastructure to IP enabled the PTC to eliminate the need for video encoders and to use PoE midspan injectors, resulting in reduced maintenance requirements and costs for the system. Signal Service also replaced the camera lowering technology from MG Squared (MG2) to install the latest MG2 CAT6a Ethernet Lowering Devices. The development of additional video analytics capabilities will be important as the partnership moves forward.

The IP cameras integrate seamlessly with the PTC’s recently upgraded video management software – Genetec Security Center. This integration also supports advanced features of the Autodome IP cameras, such as built-in Intelligent Video Analytics.

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