Keeping traffic moving on Melbourne’s M80

As a result of collaboration between VicRoads and the Technical University of Crete in Victoria, Australia, to find new ways to reduce congestion, drivers on the M80 are to benefit from new technology. Following a manual trial in 2014, the Adaptive Variable Speed Limit has now been implemented on the M80 ring road in Melbourne. The system recognises when traffic is starting to build up and adjusts traffic speed, regulating traffic flow and providing a safer and more reliable journey for the 160,000 drive
July 21, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
As a result of collaboration between 4728 VicRoads and the Technical University of Crete in Victoria, Australia, to find new ways to reduce congestion, drivers on the M80 are to benefit from new technology.

Following a manual trial in 2014, the Adaptive Variable Speed Limit has now been implemented on the M80 ring road in Melbourne. The system recognises when traffic is starting to build up and adjusts traffic speed, regulating traffic flow and providing a safer and more reliable journey for the 160,000 drivers who use the road every day.

Powered by an algorithm, the system assesses live traffic conditions and regulates traffic speed by sending information to drivers via overhead gantries. Drivers can expect to see speed limits change before traffic become heavy, particularly during morning and afternoon peak times.

Traffic data from the new system will be closely monitored and evaluated, with a view to rolling the system out more broadly across the state’s freeway network.
UTC

Related Content

  • February 12, 2013
    M62 managed motorway scheme signs switched on
    Work to upgrade part of the M62 in West Yorkshire to a managed motorway, the first scheme in the Yorkshire and Humber region, reached a significant milestone when the first overhead electronic signs went live. For the first time, the variable advisory speed limit signs have come into operation between junctions 27 and 28 to allow the UK Highways Agency to calibrate and test the technology required for the new managed motorway, with the signs being switched on and off in response to traffic conditions. Advis
    Read More
  • July 7, 2017
    Bristol’s buses trial CycleEye detection system
    Fusion Processing’s Jim Hutchinson looks at a two-year trial of the company’s cyclist detection system. Is cycling in a city dangerous? Well, that depends where you are and how you view statistics. Malmö is far more bike-friendly than Mumbai and the risk can either be perceived as small - one death per 29 million miles cycled in the UK in 2013 - or large - that equated to 109 deaths in the same year. Whatever your personal take on the data, the effect of these accidents can be felt indirectly too. News of c
    Read More
  • March 16, 2015
    Report analyses multiple ITS projects to highlight cost and benefits
    Every year in America cost benefit analysis is carried out on dozens of ITS installations and pilot studies and the findings, along with the lessons learned, are entered into the Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) web-based ITS Knowledge Resources database. This database holds more than 1,600 reports and periodically the USDOT reviews the material on file to draw conclusions from this wider body of evidence. It has just published one such review ITS Benefits, Costs, and Lessons Learned: 2014 Update Re
    Read More
  • July 19, 2018
    Cost benefit: Toronto retimings tame traffic trauma
    Canada’s largest city reckons that it is saving its taxpayers’ money simply by altering the way traffic lights work. David Crawford reviews Toronto’s ambitious plans to ease congestion Toronto, Canada’s largest metropolis (and the fourth largest in North America), has saved its residents CAN$53 (US$42.4) for every CAN$1 (US$0.80) spent over a 2012-2016 traffic signal retiming programme, according to figures released by its Transportation Services Division. The programme covered 1,275 signals (the city’s
    Read More

Highlighted Content