The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development in the US has signed Dutch firm Arcadis to build an intelligent transportation system (ITS) for the town of Lafayette.

The ITS-Traffic Incident Management project is aimed at helping the department detect, manage and respond to traffic incidents along busy and congested highways in the Lafayette area and Atchafalaya Basin.

Under the $1.15m deal, the company will support the development of fibre optic and wireless communications as well as closed-circuit TV cameras (CCTV), radar detectors, traffic messaging signs and highway advisory radios on Interstates 10 and 49, as well as US Highways 90 and 190 between Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

The company will also purchase, install and integrate electronic systems associated with wireless broadband communications, specialised Ethernet communication devices and digital video encoders for CCTV.

The electronic traffic system is also expected to help the state in its emergency response capabilities, including hurricane evacuations.