NEWSROOM
1999 Archives - April 19, 1999

WASHINGTON, D.C., Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s Ninth Annual Meeting, April 19, 1999 - Continuing a long-standing relationship with the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), Dallas-based Amtech Systems, a division of Intermec Technologies Corp., has completed the electronic toll installation for the President George Bush Turnpike (first phase) and the Addison Airport Toll Tunnel.

Dallas was the first city in North America and the second in the world to implement electronic toll collection. The President George Bush Turnpike and the Addison Airport Tunnel represent the progressive initiatives of the NTTA to provide innovative transportation solutions that solve a major metropolitan area’s mobility issues.

Rand Brown, one of Amtech’s original founders who was instrumental in developing the first commercially successful electronic toll collection (ETC) system, said, "These installations mark a decade of successful operation and are a testimony to the NTTA’s commitment to provide better service to patrons and reduce operating expenses."

President George Bush Turnpike

The first 2.8-mile segment of the President George Bush Turnpike facilitates east-west traffic in a major economic growth area in the northern half of the Dallas Metroplex. The initial phase of the turnpike gives motorists direct access to the Dallas North Tollway. Eventually, the turnpike will link commuters to high-tech corridors and corporate headquarters, providing greater access to major traffic arteries such as the Dallas North Tollway, Central Expressway (U.S. Highway 75), Interstate Highway 35, and the LBJ Freeway (Interstate Highway 635). Through interchanges with LBJ Freeway and Airport Freeway (State Highway 183), the President George Bush Turnpike also will give motorists an alternative route to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the fifth busiest airport in the world. The NTTA has projected 304,900 toll transactions per day upon completion in 2004 of the 30.5-mile turnpike.

Addison Airport Tunnel

The Addison Airport Toll Tunnel crosses beneath North Dallas’ Addison Airport, one of the nation’s busiest general aviation airports. According to the NTTA, the project represents the first underground toll tunnel west of the Mississippi River. The Addison Tunnel is a joint project between the NTTA and the town of Addison, the city of Carrollton, Dallas County, and the Federal Aviation Administration. The tunnel and roadways leading into the tunnel are approximately 3,700 feet in length. The tunnel allows motorists to travel east- and westbound on Keller Springs Road, a road that previously terminated on either side of Addison Airport and snarled traffic. The tunnel expands traffic capacity in the northern sectors of Dallas, Addison, and Carrollton by offering an east-west alternative thoroughfare. The tunnel is projected to process 15,600 toll transactions per day by the year 2000.

Technical Information

Amtech has installed 11 readers on the President George Bush Turnpike to date, and the NTTA has awarded Amtech a contract for 20 additional lanes. The President George Bush Turnpike is projected to have 150 electronic toll collection lanes by the year 2004. The Addison Tunnel installation includes six electronic toll collection lanes. Motorists are able to use their TollTagÒ product systemwide, including these two new installations. There are now more than 200,000 users of the ETC system, and growth to 400,000 users is estimated by the year 2004. Amtech also has a maintenance contract with NTTA that runs through the end of 1999. Amtech manufactures the AT5100 TollTag product sold to motorists by the toll authority.

"The NTTA had the foresight to select a tag that does not have a battery, and therefore has an indefinite life," Brown explained. "Over the last 10 years and into the future, large cost savings are realized over battery-powered tags, which require the entire tag population to be periodically replaced."

In addition to the NTTA system, Amtech provides products, services and maintenance for other major domestic ETC systems, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s E-ZPass system in New York (the world’s largest ETC system), Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s PIKEPASSÒ system, the Florida Department of Transportation’s SunPassÔ system, and the Harris County (Houston) Toll Road Authority’s E-Z Tag system.

About Intermec

Intermec Technologies Corp., a UNOVA Inc. (NYSE:UNA) company, is a global leader in the development, manufacture and integration of automated data collection and mobile computing systems. The company's products and services are used by customers in multiple industries to improve productivity, quality and responsiveness of business operations, from supply chain management and enterprise resource planning to field sales and service.

UNOVA is a $2 billion industrial technologies company with global leadership positions in data collection and wireless communications solutions for mobile workers in industry, distribution, healthcare and government, as well as manufacturing technologies for metal cutting and composite production processes.

For more information about Intermec's Intellitag RFID systems, visit the Intermec web site at www.intermec.com or call 1.800.923.4824 or 1.972.733.6600. This and an entire press kit of Intermec news are available at www.intermec.com/newsroom.

Copyright ©1999 Amtech Systems Corporation. All rights reserved.