Skip to main content

Live traffic cameras help Durham Council cut congestion

Hosted video service provider NW Systems has designed and developed an 18-camera system for Durham County Council in the UK to help them monitor and manage city centre traffic congestion affecting the city’s main arteries during major road works, bridge repairs and traffic signalisation projects. NW Systems developed an HD quality camera system for the Council’s Traffic Signals and Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) team to provide real-time views over potential congestion hot spots associated w
August 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Hosted video service provider NW Systems has designed and developed an 18-camera system for Durham County Council in the UK to help them monitor and manage city centre traffic congestion affecting the city’s main arteries during major road works, bridge repairs and traffic signalisation projects.

NW Systems developed an HD quality camera system for the Council’s Traffic Signals and 3549 Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) team to provide real-time views over potential congestion hot spots associated with major repairs on a city centre bridge which handles approximately 48,000 vehicles each day.

During the period of the bridge repairs, traffic was restricted to one lane each way, potentially causing major congestion. A combination of early warnings to motorists and a proactive public information campaign aimed to keep the traffic moving.  

According to NW Systems, the new traffic cameras, combined with early warnings to motorists and a proactive public information campaign using the Council’s website, ensured that traffic volumes in rush-hours fell nearly 25 per cent below normal levels for the time of year.

Related Content

  • November 20, 2013
    Automated enforcement tames speeders in Chicago’s Children’s Safety Zones
    Chicago is installing automated enforcement after pilot schemes indicated that one in 10 motorists exceed the speed limits in Children’s Safety Zones. Each year in Chicago there are around 3,000 incidents of pedestrians being struck by a motor vehicle - and about 800 of those casualties are children. In an effort to improve child safety the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) has established Children’s Safety Zones around schools and other areas where children congregate. These zones allow the impos
  • February 17, 2016
    London Borough deploys unattended CCTV enforcement
    The London Borough of Barnet has awarded OpenView Security Solutions a contract to supply and maintain CCTV cameras and software for the unattended enforcement of moving traffic contraventions. The Videalert-based platform will initially be used to enforce a range of moving traffic contraventions at more than 20 locations as well as being deployed outside 32 schools to increase road safety for children across the borough. Chairman of Barnet Council’s Environment Committee, Dean Cohen, said: “The int
  • May 8, 2015
    Low-costs solutions to improve pedestrian safety
    David Crawford welcomes low-cost safety initiatives for pedestrians in America. Some 10 people die each week in accidents on crosswalks in the US, that’s more than 10% of all pedestrian fatalities in road traffic incidents - the number of which is running at a five-year high. Ensuring crosswalks are safe is key in supporting the growing enthusiasm for walking as a travel mode. In the last decade of the 20th century, numbers walking to work in the US fell by 26%; while, as recently as 2012, Americans were e
  • March 19, 2014
    Asking drivers what information they need: radical but effective
    When Texas A&M Transportation Institute was asked to devise a temporary traveller information system for work zones, it started by asking drivers what they need. Robert Brydia explains the thinking, implementation and results. US Interstate 35 (I-35) runs roughly north–south originating in Laredo, Texas and ends 1,500 miles away in Duluth, Minnesota having passed through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. Within Texas the I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W passing through Dallas and Fort Worth respectiv