Laredo bridge

US-based industrial technology provider TransCore has been awarded a contract to modernise the toll collection system on City of Laredo’s four international bridges between the US and Mexico.

More than 6.7 million vehicles and three million pedestrians cross the four international bridges, namely Gateway to the Americas, the Juarez-Lincoln International, the Colombia Solidarity, and the World Trade bridges every year.

Slated for completion in 2018, the three-year project will update the electronic and cash payment toll collection systems.

"The City of Laredo is always working to improve efficiency and this upgrade will do just that."

TransCore will also undertake enhancement of automatic weigh-in-motion technology for commercial vehicles passing through the Colombia Solidarity and World Trade bridges. The weigh-in-motion subsystem will be able to provide better accuracy, while reducing maintenance costs, and eliminating the need for truck drivers to stop for inspection if weights fall below the specified limits.

Self-service payment stations at each non-commercial customer service centre will also be developed as part of the project. The existing back office customer service centre system will be updated with new account management system, self-service website, payment processing and mobile application technologies.

City of Laredo bridge manager Mario Maldonado said: "The City of Laredo is happy to again have the opportunity to work with TransCore on this very important project."

"The City of Laredo is always working to improve efficiency and this upgrade will do just that."

Based on the Infinity Digital Lane System technology, the new toll collection system will also facilitate future expansions.

The Infinity Digital Lane System technology features vehicle classification, dual currency support and video capture, and is specially designed to accurately collect transactions during periods of high-volume traffic, as well as across a wide range of traffic speeds and patterns.

The original toll collection system was installed by TransCore in 1998.

Image: Toll collection system on Laredo Bridge System bridge to be upgraded. Photo: courtesy of TransCore.