Affiliated Computer Services Inc. will design and build an intelligent transportation system for the Urban Transitway project in Stamford, Conn., under a $4 million contract.

The project will play a critical role in the city’s effort to reduce traffic congestion and improve public transportation, said Ann Brown, Stamford’s program manager, in a statement. “The Transitway will provide commuters with better access to the Stamford Transportation Center, which serves as a gateway for rail, bus and other types of transportation,” she added.

The ACS award is an integral part of the city’s effort to deliver pertinent information at all stages of the daily commute and encourage citizens to use public transit, officials said.

The contract calls for ACS to deliver a system that integrates a computer-aided dispatch and automated vehicle-location program with advanced station information and parking space availability. The system will also provide real-time data to the central dispatcher on the location of all buses.

Once completed, the new Transitway will improve bus access to the Metro-North Railroad station, a major transportation system along the Northeast corridor, and significantly decrease vehicle traffic on local roads and highways, company officials said.

The ACS system will also include real-time data displays about bus arrivals at stations and bus shelters; updated information to the central dispatcher to facilitate routing and dispatching; data commands to coordinate traffic signal operations; a private mobile radio communications system between buses and the central operations center; and an ACS fiber backbone that links passenger information displays and traffic signals throughout the operational area.

ACS, of Dallas, ranks No. 68 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.