The war for Peace Bridge

Mark IV started at an advantage because the Peace Bridge project specified interoperability with the Mark IV system in use on the New York State Thruway and on the soon-to-open H-407 in Ontario. It seems likely similar tags will be used at other Niagara River Crossings between Ontario and New York and the three Detroit and St. Clair River Crossings between Ontario and Michigan. The Ambassador Bridge at Detroit MI to Windsor, Ont. seems likely to be next to automate.

BAFEPBA's request is for technical and cost proposals to "design,

install, and maintain a system using vehicle-to-roadside communications

(VRC) and related technologies to meet the needs of customs, immigration,

tolls, and transport authorities" at the Peace Bridge. The system will permit non-stop border crossing by regular users without any black marks in their records.

To begin there will be only 1,500 enrolled automobiles and 500 enrolled commercial motor vehicles. The cars will use Type 2 (read-write) transponders and the trucks Type 3 (read-write-and signal). The commercial transponders will be hooked into the truck power supply and will have an RS-232 interface for sharing data with a trucking records computer. These transponders seem very similar in capabilities to the commerical vehicle operations e-tags used on I-75 Advantage and the HELP truck routes in the U.S. and the AVION H-407 system in Canada which is presently catered to by the GM subsidiaries Delco and Hughes, so Mark IV/Hughes collaboration seems logical. LED visual displays of red and green will signal drivers to pass or stop for inspection and checks. (Contact Tony Braunscheidel, BAFEPBA 716 884 6744x 242; Paul Manuel, Mark IV 905 624 3025)