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.
Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Texas, Oklahoma move to interoperable tolling
    April 25, 2013
    Electronic toll systems in Texas and Oklahoma could be interoperable as soon as 2014, according to toll authorities from both states. Moves to link tolling systems in Texas and Oklahoma will enable drivers with Texas tolling accounts or Oklahoma turnpike accounts to travel on the other state’s toll roads using their current toll tags. The tolls would be automatically billed to the out-of-state driver’s account. “Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said it would be good to have interoperability with other states,
    Read More
  • Foundation funds research for informed campaigning
    April 29, 2015
    ITS International talks to Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the transport research and lobbying organisation, the RAC Foundation. It is through the eyes of an economist that Professor Stephen Glaister, emeritus professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London and director of the RAC Foundation, views current and future transport problems. Having spent 30 years at the London School of Economics and another 10 at Imperial, the move to the RAC Foundation was a radical departure from
    Read More
  • Driver aids make inroads on improving safety
    November 12, 2015
    In-vehicle anti-collision systems continue to evolve and could eliminate some incidents altogether. John Kendall rounds up the current developments. A few weeks ago, I watched a driver reverse a car from a parking bay at right angles to the road, straight into a car driving along the road. The accident happened at walking pace, no-one was hurt and both cars had body panels that regain their shape after a low speed shunt.
    Read More
  • FTA calls for greater reliability on road network following improvements at Dartford
    October 14, 2015
    Drivers using the Dartford Crossing at peak times are saving around an hour and a half every week thanks to Dart Charge, according to Highways England. New figures released by Highways England show that journeys over the Dartford Crossing, which cost £62million (US$95 million) to convert to free-flow tolling, are up to 56 per cent faster than before payment barriers were removed. Drivers at peak times save up to 14 minutes southbound and seven minutes northbound.
    Read More

Highlighted Content