The Southern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials – SASHTO unites departments of transportation from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
In 2021, SASHTO took place at Hilton Orlando, where 1,400 people were registered and 200 showed up on the first day. It means professionals from all states, government agencies, primary contractors, and small businesses waited eagerly for face-to-face interaction for almost 2 years.
Participants had an opportunity to know so many safety counter measurement actions throughout southern states. DOT’s Secretaries contributed with their plans and visions for the future by sharing budgets, projects, and initiatives to make better the transportation environment.
The idea of attracting emerging technologies is present in all states and safe improvement continuous as a top priority.
Nowadays, more people are in the streets. Central Florida, for instance, has been receiving 1,500 people each week. People are moving permanently to the region and calling it home. On the other hand, more actions to protect users of the road should be put in place.
Florida counts on Suntrax, a state-of-the-art test facility that evaluates new technologies. With a total of 475 acres and 2.25 miles oval for high-speed testing different applications are tested included connected, autonomous, and electric vehicles.
I had the opportunity to know the wrong way technology that connects vehicles in opposite directions and relies upon an alarm system, not only for the driver who makes a mistake but also for the driver coming in the opposite direction. Also the system alert of the distance between both cars helping to prevent an accident.
Companies from different states exhibited their ideas and projects to the audience. FTA explores possibilities to engage with the Southern DOTs and contributes with Intelligent Transportation Systems by offering software and hardware.
Author: Degoncir Goncalves
Image by: Sashto.org