WVDOH Has Eye on Tunnel
By FRED CONNORSArticle Photos
CHARLESTON - Automobiles traveling through the Wheeling Tunnel are being watched - in Charleston.
The tunnel is an integral part of a $2.15 million operations center for a statewide Intelligent Transportation System initiative, which started Friday with a ribbon cutting by West Virginia Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox.
Located in the Division of Highways building on the state capitol grounds, the Transportation Management Center is a state-of-the art facility designed to serve as an operations hub to receive and disseminate information to the traveling public about traffic information, accidents and road conditions. It is also coordinated with U.S. Homeland Security, West Virginia State Police, fire departments and 911 centers around the state.
As part of the recent Wheeling Tunnel renovation project, the tubes were fitted with an incident response system.
It includes 12 video cameras, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and other sensors to detect things such as pedestrians, debris, traffic moving the wrong way, and traffic stopped or moving slowly.
Images from Wheeling are beamed to Charleston via the Internet and, in the event of a failure at the Transportation Management Center, to a backup center in Huntington.
At Friday's ribbon cutting ceremony, Mattox said, "The West Virginia Department of Transportation is pleased to open this state-of-the art operations facility which will serve as a one-stop center for all state, county and municipal agencies charged with the responsibility of maintaining and managing the movement of people, goods and services within the state in a safe and efficient manner."
Bruce Kenney, ITS coordinator and statewide systems management engineer, said the TMC, as well as the backup center and district-wide video conferencing system came at a cost of $2.15 million.
"Funding was provided by a $711,165 congressional earmark to be matched by federal dollars for a total of $1,422,330," Kenney said. "Also, there were Federal Highway Safety funds of $443,204 and state funds totaling $284,466."
In addition to the Wheeling Tunnel, the TMC will monitor the East River Mountain Tunnel at the Virginia border and at certain locations on Interstate 64 between Charleston and Huntington.
Kenney, who directed development of the center, said the Roadway Weather Information System will be expanded next year to include Interstates 79, 68, 70 and 81 and W.Va. 9 and W.Va. 340.
He said the system is an eight-year initiative utilizing technologies such as closed circuit television, video image detection systems, wireless communication corridors and variable message signs to improve safety, mobility, transportation efficiency and maintenance along the state's interstate highways and tunnels.
Kenney said portable cameras are available to monitor various construction zones around the state.
Chuck Runyon, executive assistant to Mattox, said the variable message signs will be invaluable as a tool to inform motorists about traffic problems, road conditions and the Amber Alert System.
"When a problem develops, we can inform the public within minutes," Runyon said.
He said a high-tech conference room will become a "situation room" for high ranking state officials to meet and plan strategies in the event of a major traffic disruption problem.
Runyon said state officials worked with highway departments in Iowa, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and North Carolina in developing the West Virginia system.
"We may be one of the last of the states to go this type of system, but we are certainly at the top when it comes to the technology being used," Runyon said.
WVDOH spokesman Brent Walker said, "This incident detection system is the most advanced highway management system available anywhere in the world."
Kenney said the center will be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week by two dispatchers with a third dispatcher and two supervisors on call at all times if needed.
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MAThomas
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11-09-08 9:49 PM
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This is a rediculous way to spend taxpayer money. Of all the things that need to be delt with - and in a time of recession - they want to play with some high tech toys. Someone should lose their job for this.
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tmoore
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11-09-08 8:27 AM
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Another waste of taxpayer money.
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EllisWyatt
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11-08-08 9:51 AM
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UNCOMMONSENSE Follow the money. I'm sure that someone got greased from the company that had the contract. Check out DOT or MOJO. See who gets a consulting deal, a recommendation, a payment, a job or a payoff. It is never direct. It is always on the side. Someone benefitted from this. The taxpayers get the shaft as per usual. The operator COULD watch the tunnel, if the workers weren't waiting around to punch out an hour before their shifts end.
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UNCOMMONSENSE
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11-08-08 9:12 AM
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A TOTAL waste of taxpayer dollars on the Wheeling tunnel!!!! This tunnel can quite easily be monitored by the operator stepping out of his office and looking around the corner! That money would have been MUCH better spent on purchasing drain grating that won't collapse!!!! IDIOTS!!!
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