Bluetooth sensors show great savings in major highway project

Bluetooth traffic sensors installed on a four-lane highway in the Waikato region of New Zealand demonstrate significant journey time savings, according to a report by New Zealand engineering consultants Beca and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), Money well spent? The challenge of finding primary data.
October 16, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Bluetooth traffic sensors installed on a four-lane highway in the Waikato region of New Zealand demonstrate significant journey time savings, according to a report by New Zealand engineering consultants Beca and the 6296 New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), Money well spent? The challenge of finding primary data.

To measure the effectiveness of the new expressway, Bluetooth sensors recorded traffic flows on the first stage of the Waikato Expressway for approximately three months before and after its opening. The sensors were configured to not only detect the journey time changes but also the relative proportion of traffic using the new and old routes.

The Bluetooth solution used by NZTA utilises BlipTrack sensors from Danish company 3778 Blip Systems installed in the road network. By anonymously tracking Bluetooth devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and hands-free installations in cars, it is possible to measure traffic flow and calculate journey time. This real time traffic flow data enables road authorities to proactively manage the road network to minimise delays and congestion.

BlipTrack sensors now cover over 600 km of state highway network on the North Island of New Zealand and are constantly being expanded.
Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision Classification & Data Collection Networking & Communication Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Virginia presses ahead with tunnels upgrade despite tolls challenge
    July 30, 2013
    David Crawford reviews current developments and legal/financial issues facing tunnel management in Virginia. This autumn the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in the US will defend its plan to introduce tolling on the Elizabeth River tunnels linking the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth in the State’s Hampton Roads area. The tolling, which is due to start from February 2014, will be examined by the State’s Supreme Court later this year. The anticipated toll income, along with loans and bonds, is
    Read More
  • The Asia-Pacific poses a multitude of ITS challenges
    May 30, 2014
    The Asia-Pacific ITS Forum and Exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand, provided a focus for the region’s ITS Associations. Mary Bell reports. In late April, ITS New Zealand hosted the 13th Asia-Pacific ITS Forum and Exhibition in Auckland. Around 350 delegates from 24 nations gathered to share and advance ITS applications on both strategic and technical levels and to discuss the differing and various challenges faced in the region.
    Read More
  • Conscience versus convenience
    June 8, 2015
    David Crawford looks at new ways forward for public transport. By 2025, nearly 60% of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities, increasing their extent and density, and the journeys that people make within and between them. In response, the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) wants to see public transport’s global modal share doubling (PTx2) by the same date. “Success in 2025,” a spokesperson told ITS International, “will save 170 million tonnes of oil equivalent and 550
    Read More
  • Report analyses multiple ITS projects to highlight cost and benefits
    March 16, 2015
    Every year in America cost benefit analysis is carried out on dozens of ITS installations and pilot studies and the findings, along with the lessons learned, are entered into the Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) web-based ITS Knowledge Resources database. This database holds more than 1,600 reports and periodically the USDOT reviews the material on file to draw conclusions from this wider body of evidence. It has just published one such review ITS Benefits, Costs, and Lessons Learned: 2014 Update Re
    Read More

Highlighted Content