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

  • New technology is changing the Weigh In Motion landscape
    June 5, 2014
    Exciting new weigh in motion solutions were showcased at Intertraffic. Guy Woodford reports For many years weigh-in-motion (WIM) has been used solely as a filtering mechanism to detect potentially overloaded vehicles, but introductions at Intertraffic may see that change. At the Intertraffic exhibition to unveil its Apollo range of British-manufactured axle weighbridges was Applied Traffic. The in-motion and static axle-by-axle weighing system offers slow speed and portable weighing solutions suitable for
    Read More
  • MG Squared’s lowering system integrated into Bosch range
    July 25, 2012
    Bosch Security Systems has announced the successful integration of its MIC Series 550 high-speed pan-tilt-zoom cameras with MG Squared’s Lowering System – a device used frequently in ITS and secure perimeter installations. The combination makes it even easier and safer to install and maintain pole-mounted MIC Series 550 cameras in these settings.
    Read More
  • Dundee trial offers insight into delivering MaaS in smaller urban and rural areas
    March 27, 2018
    A MaaS trial in Scotland will evaluate the attraction of such services for young people living in small cities and rural areas. Colin Sowman reports. It is often said that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is fine in big cities - but what about smaller towns and rural areas? Well, the city of Dundee in Scotland has only around 150,000 people but is set to provide some answers with its trial of NaviGoGo, a MaaS operation aimed at 16-25 year olds – be they students, working or unemployed. By population, Dundee
    Read More
  • Harmonisation of Europe's ITS deployment still unbalanced
    January 31, 2012
    Dean Herenda, Chairman of the EasyWay project, talks about the progress made and the progress still to be made in harmonising ITS deployment across the European Union. "The deployment and use of ITS in road transport across Europe was and still is unbalanced" Although Europe can be proud of being home to some of the world's most advanced ITS solutions, the relative disparities between Member States of the European Union (EU) in terms of the extent and technological sophistication of deployments actually sta
    Read More

Highlighted Content