Instant messaging for Manchester’s motorists

Transport for Greater Manchester has installed variable message signs (VMS) on some of the city’s busiest roads to provide motorists with live traffic information. Eight VMS are now fully operational on roads across the region, displaying live journey time estimates and details of road traffic incidents and disruption. A further 19 signs are expected to be operational by the end of March 2015. Each sign is carefully located near to a key decision point, such as the intersection of a main route, a park
January 27, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
817 Transport for Greater Manchester has installed variable message signs (VMS) on some of the city’s busiest roads to provide motorists with live traffic information.

Eight VMS are now fully operational on roads across the region, displaying live journey time estimates and details of road traffic incidents and disruption. A further 19 signs are expected to be operational by the end of March 2015.

Each sign is carefully located near to a key decision point, such as the intersection of a main route, a park and ride site, a major train station, an interchange or a public transport stop. The locations were carefully chosen in consultation with local authorities, taking into account factors such as speed limits and distances from the decision points. This was done to allow plenty of time for road users to process the information displayed, decide on the best course of action, and make their intervention in a timely and safe manner.

The full colour matrix signs can display both text and graphics, such as standard road sign symbols, and are linked directly to the state-of-the-art urban traffic control room at Transport for Greater Manchester’s headquarters.

The aim is to develop the system using the link and allow it, in the long-term, to provide information such as live diversions, comparisons between public transport journey times and cycling data. The overarching objective, other than to provide real time information, is to give all road users an informed choice to meet their travel needs.

The signs are also able to display photographs and live stream footage, which will future-proof them should the current legislation change.
Urban Traffic Control Air Quality & Weather Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Communications redundancy increases VMS reliability
    December 17, 2014
    Hybrid communications to variable message signs increase resilience to natural disasters and enable deployment in remote areas, as Alan Allegretto explains. Variable Message Signs (VMSs) are a common sight and a well-proven means to improve public safety on our roads and highways. ITS professionals rank the VMS as second only to interoperable radios as the most important technology to improve effectiveness during emergency incidents and evacuations. Ironically, however, current systems suffer from one criti
    Read More
  • German authorities use CB-radio message to reduce accidents in roadworks
    April 8, 2014
    Citizen Band radio is proving useful to prevent accidents in Germany’s roadworks. In common with other German Länder (federal regions) with large volumes of commercial vehicles using their trunk road networks, Bavaria had been experiencing high levels of road traffic accidents (RTAs) involving heavy trucks in the vicinity of minor motorway maintenance sites. This was despite the extensive visual warning regulations published in the German federal road safety audit (RSA) guidelines for the protection of site
    Read More
  • Wavetronix radar-based traffic sensor cuts costs
    May 30, 2013
    While initial cost of radar based detection may be higher than that traditional loops, lower maintenance costs more than balance the books. Following successful field tests, the US city of Greenville, North Carolina, has recently agreed a new policy of phasing in Wavetronix traffic sensor technology’s radar-based SmartSensor Matrix system across its signalised traffic intersections. City traffic engineer Rik DiCesare expects the incremental implementation to deliver benefits to both the city’s taxpayers an
    Read More
  • Port authority to replace ITS system at George Washington bridge
    November 16, 2012
    The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) at the George Washington Bridge (GWB), first installed in 1997, is to be replaced by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as part of a road improvements being planned throughout the region. The ITS provides information on traffic conditions, estimated travel times, and lane restrictions to motorists via electronic signs on roads leading to the GWB. An estimated 101 million vehicles crossed the world’s busiest crossing in both directions in 2011. Work on t
    Read More

Highlighted Content