The Greater Toronto Area's (GTA) Highway 407 was constructed to relieve traffic congestion in Canada's fastest growing and most populous region. The project used leading edge communications network technology to implement the world's first all electronic toll highway. After a year in operation, the project has been able to exceed all forecasts, including reliability of the system and almost twice the expected vehicular traffic, resulting in substantially increased revenues. That the network was able to handle this increase may be credited to the design criteria used in planning the network infrastructure, and its selection of a fiber optic communications system. The Roadside Toll Collection System manages information received from vehicle transponders as well as processing license plate images, allowing the electronic toll route to be used by both frequent commuters and first-time travelers. (A*)
Abstract