Skip to main content

‘Just the beginning’ for Cyprus’ smart traffic management

Transport ministry officials in Cyprus have launched the Channel programme, a real-time traffic monitoring system that aims to alert motorists through smart technology of delays, traffic jams, accidents, road works and parking spaces. Part of the Cyprus-Greece Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2007 to 2013, the channel programme is 80 per cent EU-funded. The objective is to improve traffic conditions on major roads in Cyprus. Drivers will be able to access the system via internet, mobile phones and t
February 26, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Transport ministry officials in Cyprus have launched the Channel programme, a real-time traffic monitoring system that aims to alert motorists through smart technology of delays, traffic jams, accidents, road works and parking spaces.

Part of the Cyprus-Greece Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2007 to 2013, the channel programme is 80 per cent EU-funded. The objective is to improve traffic conditions on major roads in Cyprus.

Drivers will be able to access the system via internet, mobile phones and through the radio. To begin with, the system will be installed at major junctions in Nicosia and on the highways.

The programme’s total budget comes to US$2.06 million, of which US$1.2 million will be used to complete the project in Cyprus, which began in November 2012 and is due to be completed in March.

The first phase of the programme is to create a complete online map of Cyprus’ roads, especially within towns and cities. The second phase of the project will see the installation of real-time traffic monitoring devices in order to inform drivers and the police of any traffic congestion, accidents, planned road works and free parking spaces in Nicosia. It is planned that the devices will be installed to cover other towns and cities at a later date.

“Cyprus is becoming digitised when it comes to transport and traffic management. It is a very advanced and innovative system which can have many benefits. This is just the beginning,” Mitsopoulos said.

Related Content

  • Temporary CCTV poses more challenges than permanent installations
    June 12, 2015
    Long-term roadworks pose particular problems for temporary surveillance installations. Converting the hard shoulder to a running lane, either full- or part-time, is the UK Highways Agency’s solution to ease motorway congestion. This is leading to a number of long-term projects where large stretches of the hard shoulder are closed off by temporary concrete barriers and during these roadwork programmes, temporary CCTV cameras are deployed to monitor and record vehicle traffic and workers.
  • Remote remedies help US authorities identify bridge deficiencies
    September 6, 2017
    Every day 185 million vehicles – cars, trucks, school buses, emergency response units - cross one or more of America’s 55,710 'structurally compromised' steel and concrete road bridges, the highest concentration of which are in Iowa (nearly 5,000), Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Nearly 2,000 of these crossings are located on interstate highways, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's recent analysis of the US Department of Transportation's 2016 National Bridge Inventory.
  • Will mobile apps kick-start mobility pricing?
    January 5, 2016
    Thomas Hallauer from Ptolemus believes trials of connected road charging services will show the pay per mile concept will go much further than previously thought. Drivers are progressively becoming directly connected to the transport infrastructure and while the methods are changing, the innovation is really in the models rather than the technology.
  • Growing ITS capability, a way to increase infrastructure capacity
    February 2, 2012
    Iteris's Greg McKhann makes the case for policymakers to look more seriously at the use of ITS as a means of increasing existing infrastructure capacity