NEWSROOM
1996 Archives - June 13, 1996

DALLAS - June 13, 1996 - Amtech Systems Corp. will expand the first combined electronic toll and traffic management system (ETTM) in the world to all major roads in the Greater Houston/Harris County area for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Amtech has received a contract award, worth approximately $3.9 million, for work on Phases III and IV of the Greater Houston traffic management system administered by TxDOT. This expansion will provide more accurate data at more frequent intervals for traffic management and timely traffic incident reporting.

Phases I and II of the project have been operational for the past 18 months. These next phases will increase Amtech's state-of-the-art equipment for Houston and Harris County's high-tech system, the first of its kind to use automatic vehicle identification (AVI) technology for traffic management. Phases III and IV will expand traffic monitoring to U.S. Highway 59 and other major arteries in the Houston and Harris County area. The phases also include continued maintenance of the entire AVI system and the provision of additional tags to be distributed throughout 1996.

Amtech designed the data-gathering system for TxDOT. The system consists of Amtech reader stations - located on toll roads and freeways in the metropolitan area - that read Harris County Toll Road Authority electronic EZ TAGS, which are supplied by Amtech, compatible out-of-area Amtech tags, trucks equipped with compatible American Trucking Associations (ATA) tags for equipment and cargo tracking, and traffic management systems tags issued to drivers who commute during peak travel periods. Information gathered from the equipment is transmitted to Houston TranStar, a space-age traffic control center for Houston/Harris County that also serves as an emergency contact center for all Houston emergency services except police 911. The information is used to manage traffic flow and respond more quickly to traffic incidents.

All vehicles equipped with ETTM tags compatible with Amtech's system serve as intelligent probes that can relay travel flow and travel time information on Houston and Harris County roadways to traffic engineers, transportation officials and emergency-related agencies. The data, updated minute-by-minute, 24 hours a day, also is available to drivers through traffic reports and via a site on the Internet: http://herman.tamu.edu/traffic.html.

"The Houston traffic management system rapidly is becoming a nationally recognized project for managing traffic in major urban metropolitan areas," said Bob Neely, toll regional director, Western United States for Amtech Systems Corp. "The ability of Houston and Harris County traffic managers to use this highly efficient system allows vehicles to travel through the metropolitan area in less time and with greater safety."

"Accuracy of the measurements is extremely high - both travel-time measurements and the resulting speed calculations," said Dr. William McCasland, project manager for the Texas Transportation Institute, which also is under contract to TxDOT. "The next phases will broaden our coverage, provide more data and pave the way for two-way traffic communication."

Amtech Systems Corp. is the world's leading provider of wireless identification, tracking and monitoring technologies for the intelligent transportation industry. Founded in 1984, the company helps businesses improve productivity by offering reliable, accurate and innovative solutions. With more than 4 million tags and 6,000 readers distributed throughout the world, Amtech Systems Corp. is the only company that meets the automatic equipment identification standards set by transportation groups in maritime, U.S. rail and trucking and European rail industries. Based, in Dallas, the company heads the Transportation Systems Group of Amtech Corp. (NASDAQ-AMTC).

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