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Diversified Paves Way for Mission Critical Traffic Management Improvements

Published: July 10, 2017

As integrators and others make the daily commute each day on roadways across America, they likely don’t often ponder how much planning is needed to keep those roads operational. CompView (now Diversified) recently helped Washington state maintain its road safety by outfitting a critical new facility.

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The Washington Department of Transportation’s Shoreline Traffic Management Center (TMC) is one of six regional operation centers used to keep Washington’s roads safe and efficient. But when the TMC outgrew its building — as well as the size of its roadway monitoring system — the staff realized it was time not just for a physical upgrade, but a technological one, too.

Enter Diversified, which had previously worked with the Washington Department of Transportation. The company installed a 3×4 video wall and 90 individual displays that give employees a way to view current conditions of freeways, tunnels and bridges, and collaborate on incident response.

Road Safety Monitoring Across the Map

Devices familiar to any driver, such as roadside cameras, ramp meters, variable message signs, speed and lane control signs, and more are all monitored from inside the TMC, bestowing an added level of importance upon the facility.

Several control functions were of prime importance, including signage showing the variable toll rates. As a roadway becomes congested, the express toll lane’s price fluctuates, and employees instantly update the signage to reflect the price.

Other monitoring operations include the pavement and pedestrian walkways inside tunnels, which are monitored all day, every day. When employees see issues like truck load spills or pooling water, radio operators dispatch field workers to cleanup spills or unclog drains.

Related: AVI-SPL Provides Seamless Monitoring Capabilities for Energy Provider

Washington DOT’s Project: Multiple Phases

The large-scale project took place in two phases over the course of one-and-a-half years. As Diversified installed monitors on the building’s walls, their team soon discovered the sheet metal in the false wall built to hold the brackets didn’t go up as high as they thought. The top row of monitors needed extra support, so Diversified worked with the client and general contractor to resolve the issue.

CompView, Washington Department of Transportation, monitoring, video wall, road safety, Diversified

Prior to arriving onsite, integrators provided the 90 OPS docking stations, video processors and computers to the Washington Department of Transportation for programming. WSDOT then returned the programmed OPS computers to Diversified for installation.

Phase 1 required meticulous coordination and installation of the 90 displays, which were aligned and placed at exact heights and spacing intervals. The project manager and team verified vital calculations, made adjustments to alignment and cable management, and tested the displays.

For phase 2, Diversified installed the 2×3 video wall while the TMC was fully operational. In the event of a traffic emergency, the Washington Department of Transportation would notify Diversified to stop work and eliminate disruptions.

The 90 NEC displays and video wall enable engineers in the TMC to coordinate appropriate responses to accidents and collaborate more efficiently. Real-time video of incidents are moved from one of the displays to the video wall and enlarged for better viewing. Ultimately, the project makes an impact on public road safety every day.

The TMC team uses those magnified details they see on the wall to inform police, fire, and ambulance dispatch. The engineer who handles variable messaging alerts motorists on adjacent highways to avoid the incident. Other engineers adjust the speed and lane control signs ahead of the incident to encourage motorists to slow down or change lanes.

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Diversified’s Equipment Highlights

NEC P463 LCD Monitors

NEC 46-inch LED Backlit Large Screen Display

Barco CMS collaboration software and TransForm N

NEC WUXGA DLP Projector

Peerless-AV Display Mounting Brackets

OPS Computers

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