Skip to main content

Siemens traffic solutions improve Amsterdam bottleneck

Solutions supplied by Siemens are helping to improve traffic conditions at the Coentunnel, one of the most heavily used traffic arteries in the Netherlands, used by 100,000 vehicles every day. The tunnel, which links Amsterdam to the province of North Holland, has been a cause of traffic congestion and delays for many years. A much-needed second tunnel opened in spring 2013, together with a three kilometre long elevated section of freeway connecting the tunnel with the southern part of the city to relieve t
July 9, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Solutions supplied by 189 Siemens are helping to improve traffic conditions at the Coentunnel, one of the most heavily used traffic arteries in the Netherlands, used by 100,000 vehicles every day.

The tunnel, which links Amsterdam to the province of North Holland, has been a cause of traffic congestion and delays for many years. A much-needed second tunnel opened in spring 2013, together with a three kilometre long elevated section of freeway connecting the tunnel with the southern part of the city to relieve the heavily-used A10 route.

At the heart of the solution is the tunnel control centre's Sitraffic ITCC, which monitors and manages all of the operating and traffic systems and all of the outdoor equipment. A closed-circuit television system (CCTV) provides traffic monitoring, while the integrated automatic incident detection (AID) system provides identification of smoke as well as congestion and accidents.

Siemens also equipped the elevated section with state-of-the-art traffic technology including a traffic management system, monitoring technology and technical infrastructure components such as communication and camera technology.

To meet stringent safety requirements for the elevated section, Siemens used safety technologies similar to those used in the tunnel: sensors along the elevated section measure traffic volume and flow and automatically notify the control centre in the event of stationary traffic, slow-moving vehicles and wrong-way travel.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Wrong Way Detection System prevents accidents, improves safety
    January 31, 2012
    In 2006, within a span of four months, two incidents of drivers entering the 16km-long Westpark Tollway in Houston, Texas resulted in horrific accidents that caused a number of fatalities. As a result, Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) began investigating technologies that could help detect vehicles entering the tollway in the wrong direction.
  • Lindsay zips-up lane closure solution
    May 11, 2017
    Moveable barrier systems are offering engineers a new traffic management options. Work zones - be they for maintenance or road widening - are a fact of life and when they occur on major highways, they create no end of problems for traffic planners and travellers alike.
  • Axis aids incident detection on French viaduct
    October 31, 2016
    France’s first AID system has halved attendance time on the Calix Viaduct. TheCentre for Traffic Engineering and Management (CIGT) at Caen in northern France manages 367km of the national network in the Manche/Calvados district including the 1.2km long, 15-span Calix Viaduct across the Canal de Caen à la Mer.
  • Reducing detection costs benefits intersection management
    February 3, 2012
    The continuing, favourable performance-versus-cost situation concerning detection and monitoring technologies is driving the proliferation of intelligence across road networks. The effective and safe management of intersections is a focus for network operators and systems manufacturers alike. The most complicated of road environments, and statistically among the least safe, intersections enjoy particular emphasis in longer-term work on cooperative infrastructure solutions. However there are current developm