Skip to main content

Variable speed limit signs deployed in Canada

The British Columbia government in Canada has deployed variable speed limit signs along three highways in the province, Highway 99, Highway 5, and Highway 1, which are prone to rapidly changing weather..Variable speed limit signs display the legal speed limit when road and weather conditions change. From 2 June, motorists are required to obey the signs, which are regulatory and enforced by the police. Static message signs at the entrance to each corridor inform travellers they are entering a variable
June 10, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The British Columbia government in Canada has deployed variable speed limit signs along three highways in the province, Highway 99, Highway 5,  and Highway 1, which are prone to rapidly changing weather..Variable speed limit signs display the legal speed limit when road and weather conditions change.

From 2 June, motorists are required to obey the signs, which are regulatory and enforced by the police.

Static message signs at the entrance to each corridor inform travellers they are entering a variable speed zone. A digital message sign (DMS) at the beginning of each corridor warns drivers of changing weather conditions. Flashing lights installed above each variable speed limit sign are activated when a reduced speed limit is in effect.

Traffic, road and visibility sensors monitor real-time traffic speeds as well as road and weather conditions to provide recommended reduced speeds back to operations staff who then adjust the electronic signs to let drivers know what speed they should be travelling for the current conditions.

Webcams installed along each of the routes monitor traffic and weather conditions to provide drivers and operators at the Regional Transportation Management with real time information on conditions along the routes.

Related Content

  • Driver aids make inroads on improving safety
    November 12, 2015
    In-vehicle anti-collision systems continue to evolve and could eliminate some incidents altogether. John Kendall rounds up the current developments. A few weeks ago, I watched a driver reverse a car from a parking bay at right angles to the road, straight into a car driving along the road. The accident happened at walking pace, no-one was hurt and both cars had body panels that regain their shape after a low speed shunt.
  • Orange County to manage traffic with trial interoperable CCTV
    September 12, 2014
    Interoperable CCTV can provide early warning of problems and help improve traffic management and incident response as Morteza Fahrtash and Carlos Ortiz explain. California’s transportation system is one of the state’s defining features and Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) strives to improving mobility across the state through the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the network of highway, freeways, toll roads and expressways.
  • Tecsidel’s Pan-American Highway tunnel eases Lima’s traffic woes
    December 4, 2018
    The Pan-American Highway connects the US and Canada with Latin America, running for thousands of miles from Alaska in the north to Argentina in the south. Mauro Nogarin finds that one tunnel built underneath it is now providing relief for thousands of travellers each day On the Pan-American Highway, the lengthy series of roads which spans both American continents - from the US state of Alaska to the Latin American country of Argentina - ITS solutions are many and varied. One of these, in Peru’s capital
  • Joining old and new in Canada’s Highway 407
    June 17, 2016
    David Arminas visits Canada’s Highway 407 ETR to see how the concession is working and hear about new arrangements for the roadway’s extension. The Toronto region is North America’s eighth largest metropolitan area and its roads become notoriously congested. In 1997 Highway 407, a 68km concrete toll motorway which skirts the northern edge of Toronto, was opened and initially operated by the province and CHIC - a consortium of four leading Ontario-based companies. Finance came from the Ontario Financing Auth