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Celebrating its 10th year in delivering electronic toll collection (ETC) solutions that have revolutionized the nation's highways, Lockheed Martin IMS today congratulated the Delaware River & Bay Authority (DRBA) on the success of its recently launched E-ZPass program on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
"As DRBA officials and dignitaries from Delaware and New Jersey celebrate the bridge's 50th anniversary today, they can look with pride on achieving a technological milestone that has opened a new era of convenience for their customers -- the introduction of E-ZPass on July 18," said Skip Lee, senior vice president and managing director of transportation systems and services at Lockheed Martin IMS.
IMS' installation of automatic vehicle identification (AVI) readers and antennas in all 13 toll lanes on the bridge, as well as the development of a customer account management system, represent the company's latest successful completion of an electronic toll collection system.
In 1991, the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) awarded IMS a contract to develop one of the nation's first ETC systems on the Route 400 Extension in Atlanta. Ten years later, IMS is involved in 13 ETC projects nationwide and processes 510 million electronic toll transactions annually, generating $1.2 billion for its toll agency clients. IMS is the industry's leading ETC customer service provider, with 16 service centers supporting nearly five million motorists, including the world-renowned E-ZPass program.
While DRBA's E-ZPass program on the Delaware Memorial Bridge is less than a month old, the agency is making steady enrollment gains, utilizing two new customer service features developed by IMS -- an interactive voice response phone system and a new interactive website (http://www.ezpassdrba.com/) that enables motorists to apply on-line, check their accounts and conduct other business.
Latest figures show that 40 percent of motorists on the bridge are now using E-ZPass during rush hours, with overall E-ZPass penetration at 24 percent. Since July 31, the number of new E-ZPass accounts has doubled to 9,500, with DRBA issuing 10,775 transponders since the start of the program. The bridge records approximately 45,000 daily toll transactions.
DRBA is the first toll agency to utilize IMS' Washington, DC-based Transportation Service Center, which opened in June. This company-owned and operated customer service center was established to meet the back-office transaction processing needs of IMS' toll, parking and transit clients. By co-locating multiple clients in the same facility, the company can reduce their expenses through cost-sharing and economies of scale.
By the end of this year, IMS will also make the Maryland Transportation Authority's (MdTA) toll roads accessible to E-ZPass tag holders and enable the MdTA's M-Tag customers to use their transponders wherever E-ZPass is accepted. Current policy limits the M-Tag program to two-axle vehicles on the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, the Fort McHenry Tunnel and the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The Delaware Memorial Bridge's strategic location, connecting the New Jersey Turnpike in Pennsville, NJ, with the Delaware Turnpike in New Castle, DE, makes it a key transportation link in the E-ZPass highway network extending from West Virginia to Massachusetts.
"Lockheed Martin IMS is proud of the pivotal role we continue to play in the resounding success of E-ZPass and other ETC programs nationwide, most recently with the Delaware River & Bay Authority," said Lee. "The outstanding partnership we have forged with DRBA is a model for public-private collaboration in improving the quality of life for commuters."
In celebration of the Delaware Memorial Bridge's golden anniversary, DRBA and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware will stage a black-tie event on Friday, Aug. 17, entitled "Delaware Memorial Bridge: Spanning a Half Century." The event, to be held in a specially decorated hangar at DRBA's New Castle Airport, will benefit the 15,000 members of the Boys & Girls Clubs by helping fund after-school programs and other educational enhancements.
Currently the longest twin-suspension bridge in the United States, the Delaware Memorial Bridge has been crossed by more than one billion vehicles since Aug. 16, 1951, when Omero C. Catan of Teaneck, NJ paid the first toll.
In addition to its work with DRBA, IMS is an ETC systems integrator and customer service center provider to the Port Authority of NY & NJ, the MdTA and the South Carolina Department of Transportation. IMS is also the E-ZPass customer service provider to the MTA Bridges & Tunnels in New York City, the New York State Thruway Authority, the New York State Bridge Authority and the Delaware River Port Authority. The company also provides ETC customer services to the Golden Gate Bridge District in San Francisco and the South Carolina DOT's Cross Island Parkway on Hilton Head Island.
SOURCE: Lockheed Martin IMS
Contact: Terry Lynam, Lockheed Martin IMS, +1-800-759-3282,