Easy and safe automatic cone placing

Tasks that should always be undertaken using the protection of a truck or trailer-mounted attenuator, but frequently aren't. That's why Dutch company Trafiq attracted so much international attention last year when it developed and launched the Mobile Automatic Roadblock System (MARS). Not only does the system provide complete safety for highway workers, it automates the entire process. And on top of that, because of the speed at which it deploys and collects cones, MARS provides substantial cost savings com
January 31, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Road cones are laid and retrieved by MARS by the driver/operator from the safety of his cab

It could be argued that the most dangerous job in work zones is probably cone laying and removal.

Tasks that should always be undertaken using the protection of a truck or trailer-mounted attenuator, but frequently aren't. That's why Dutch company 1913 Trafiq attracted so much international attention last year when it developed and launched the Mobile Automatic Roadblock System (MARS). Not only does the system provide complete safety for highway workers, it automates the entire process. And on top of that, because of the speed at which it deploys and collects cones, MARS provides substantial cost savings compared to conventional and labour-intensive methods.

On arrival at a section of road to be coned, MARS first automatically places a rumble strip, a light arrow and attenuator to mark the start of the road works, before beginning to lay the miles of cones required. Everything is controlled from within the cab by the driver/operator.

One of the first users of the system was T&M, the traffic management company involved in highways maintenance work on Amsterdam's A9 and A10 motorways. As T&M's Peter Jan Hendricks commented, "The speed and safety aspects demonstrated by the MARS system far exceeded our expectations." Since then T&M has continuously rented the MARS for other projects, while other Dutch competitors are now also using the system.

According to Peter van Nes of Trafiq, in addition to its use in the Netherlands, MARS is now also being used in the US, France, and Switzerland. "Because of actual requests coming from users interested in buying specific versions, we are actually in the process of developing and building a smaller version to fit the southern European roads and hard shoulders. At the same time, we are also developing and building a larger version, capable of carrying a bigger volume of cones in order to work in longer tunnels or longer distances, with tighter spacings," he says. Also, because of numerous requests for a rumble strip layer as a separate unit, Trafiq has developed a standalone version which can be mounted on any truck by a DIN-plate.
Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Use of ITS technology grows more prevalent in safety applications
    January 30, 2012
    Transportation agencies and governments are using ITS technology to protect critical infrastructure from terrorist attack and other threats to economic security and public safety. Andrew Bardin Williams reports. It is no secret that we live in a potentially dangerous world. Terrorism as seen on 9/11 in the United States, subsequent attacks in London, Moscow and Madrid and other acts of violence across the developing world have made vigilance the watchword for ensuring security. Key infrastructure is now bei
    Read More
  • TRL answer key questions on urban traffic control
    March 21, 2014
    PC-based urban traffic control (UTC) continues to grow. Gavin Jackman, Head of Traffic and Software at TRL, looks forward. 1. PC-based urban traffic control is now very well established throughout the world. What have been the most significant developments or new features that have become available over the last two years? That’s a really interesting question because, from a software perspective, a few things are noticeable. Firstly, there are more players on the market – TRL’s Transyt Online, Imtech’s Imf
    Read More
  • Will you allow winter weather to derail your transit operations?
    June 8, 2021
    JW Speaker's SmartHeat allows transportation managers to improve public transit safety
    Read More
  • 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
    Read More

Highlighted Content