By ITS International

In a major coup for the company, Q-Free has announced it has been awarded a contract to upgrade nearly 100 free-flow tolling locations along 500km of four major highways in Northern Portugal.

The network is the largest tolling operation of its kind in the country. The award underlines Q-Free’s long-standing ethos of strong on-going relationships and active support for its customers: the company designed the original installation between 2009 and 2011 and has maintained it ever since.

The award was made by toll road operator Ascendi, in collaboration with Infrastructures of Portugal (IP), the nation’s government highways agency.

Luis Miranda, Q-Free’s VP of western and southern Europe, puts the contract into perspective. “It was over a decade ago that we designed and installed a state-of-the-art tolling system and we have maintained it ever since to the customer’s satisfaction. Nevertheless, for the contract renewal, there was a competitive bid, which we won. I think that underlines that, in a highly competitive market, our technology, and support for our customers, has continued to evolve and remains state-of-the-art.”

The upgrade will encompass virtually all components along the network of triple-gantry toll charging stations, using faster DSRC sensors, smaller lasers, the company’s advanced VRE700 higher resolution cameras as well as the back-office hardware. The new solutions will extend the life and increase functionality of the tolling network dramatically. “We are confident the installations will meet and surpass their expectations,” said Miranda.  

Q-Free’s Portugal offices in Lisbon and Porto will handle the upgrade and full deployment is expected to be completed by 2022. 

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