Alcatel-Lucent and Thales consortium awarded 80 million euros contract to bring the Poland’s A2 motorway up to EU commercial motorway standards

Improvements on A2 between Konin and Strykow will improve driver safety and increase auto capacity

Warsaw and Paris – Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways has selected an Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Thales consortium to design, integrate, install and deploy the systems that will bring the A2 motorway up to EU commercial motorway standards. The contract, valued at approximately 80 million Euros, includes a 3-year multivendor maintenance contract.

Alcatel-Lucent as the leader of the consortium, will project manage the integration, testing and deployment of a toll collection, emergency communications, traffic management, and a traffic statistics collection system, along the 100 kilometer section between Konin and Strykow. Alcatel-Lucent will also design and build a fiber optic communication system, which will be the transmission backbone for all the systems placed along the motorway. The project is targeted to be in service by the end of 2010.

“I am delighted that we have been selected to implement such an advanced project. ” said Andrzej Dulka, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in Poland. “The agreement confirms the leading role of our company as the supplier and network integrator of turnkey solutions for the transportation industry. Our focus on industry and public sector is strong. ”

The contracted toll collection system will enable the motorway end users to pay according to the distance covered, the category of the vehicle, and pay by cash or by card. The system will be equipped with appropriate forgery protection and antitheft devices to protect personal banking credentials and to ensure secure revenue streams for the Directorate and like other European systems is ready to interoperate with electronic toll collection system planned in the future.

The traffic management system, will deliver useful information directly to drivers (traffic conditions and weather) and it will ensure smooth movement of traffic on the motorway. The system includes lane control signals, variable message signs, meteorological outstations, traffic monitoring equipment, CCTV cameras and equipment for the motorway management center.

The emergency communications system includes emergency telephones located every 2 km on either side of the motorway. The emergency telephones will be equipped with an alarm button and a speaker, enabling drivers to request assistance in the event of an accident or technical problems with their vehicles. Each individual motorway section will be monitored from the control center. The system will enable the recording of all events, together with their date and time of occurrence, the telephone numbers of the alerted intervention services and all the other operations conducted by the operator.

The traffic statistics collection facilities will consist of two independent systems– traffic survey equipment, used to measure speed, traffic volume and vehicle categories for national statistics gathering and weigh-in-motion equipment used to collect data on vehicle weight and their impact on the pavement.

Also under the agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will construct two Motorway Maintenance Centers - Wartkowice and Stryków II along with the Motorway Management Center. They will be equipped with technology and facilities that enable maintenance and repair of motorway infrastructure.

About the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways
The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) — a Polish government agency formed at the Ministry of Infrastructure (later at the Ministry of Transport and Construction, then at the Ministry of Transport) as a central agency responsible for managing national roads and implementing the national road construction budget. The Directorate was formed on April 1, 2002 by merging the General Directorate of Public Roads and the Agency for Motorway Construction and Operation. The head of GDDKiA is the General Director for National Roads and Motorways. He supervises the Head Office in Warsaw and 16 Provincial Branches, as well as National Road Regions that manage the roads locally. It is a central government agency competent for national roads. It manages national roads and implements the national road construction budget.

About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing solutions that deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 17.8 billion in 2007 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com