Skip to main content

Siemens introduces new software for “talking” traffic intersections

The city of Abilene, Texas, in the US is using new adaptive traffic control software from Siemens to increase traffic flow along a heavily travelled corridor, where two state highways meet at two intersections about 750 feet apart with elevated railroads passing between them. SEPAC Peer-to-Peer software allows intersection controllers to share information with one another on traffic and pedestrian conditions, allowing the on-street network of controllers to adaptively respond to changing traffic conditions
July 19, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The city of Abilene, Texas, in the US is using new adaptive traffic control software from 189 Siemens to increase traffic flow along a heavily travelled corridor, where two state highways meet at two intersections about 750 feet apart with elevated railroads passing between them.


SEPAC Peer-to-Peer software allows intersection controllers to share information with one another on traffic and pedestrian conditions, allowing the on-street network of controllers to adaptively respond to changing traffic conditions in real-time.

In the field, a controller can transmit information about a large number of vehicles to a controller at the next traffic signal. This allows extra green time for the group of cars to move through multiple intersections, making traffic more efficient for operators and the travelling public.

According to James Rogge, traffic engineer for Abilene, since the implementation of the technology, the City has seen significant improvements in traffic flow through the once congested area.

The Peer-to-Peer feature gives operators a greater level of insight into traffic conditions and more accuracy in adapting traffic patterns to increase flow and ultimately reduce congestion. The SEPAC software can be installed in existing traffic controllers and requires no additional equipment or IT infrastructure.

Related Content

  • November 9, 2012
    US ushers in reforms with new transportation bill
    On behalf of ITS America, Paul Feenstra maps out implications and opportunities for the ITS industry. A critical milestone was reached last month when the US Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation reauthorising the nation’s surface transportation programmes, breaking a nearly three-year log-jam which had stymied critical transportation reforms and delayed much-needed infrastructure projects. The law, numbered P.L. 112-141 but known as MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century),
  • June 11, 2015
    Machine vision’s image of road management’s future
    Q-Free’s Marco Sinnema looks at how the commoditisation of high-quality vision-based solutions is widening their application. Machine vision technology’s entry into the ITS/traffic management sector has followed a classic top-down path. This is unsurprising given the extremely demanding performance criteria which are the standard in its market of origin, manufacturing processing. Very high image qualities combined with frame rates often in the hundreds per second range resulted in vision systems with capabi
  • August 29, 2012
    Integrated corridor management 'to enhance travel efficiency'
    New systems of software are coming together to form the technological backbone of a project that will apply practically to one corridor in Dallas, but influence travel across a wider area. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the lead agency for an extensive Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) project in Dallas, covering an area stretching north east of downtown Dallas, 20 miles long by two miles wide. The corridor is defined loosely by the US-75 freeway and DART’s light rail ‘red line’. These are the theor
  • January 22, 2014
    Super Bowl 2014 to benefit from adaptive traffic control
    To address the traffic needs of one of the busiest traffic corridors in the US, TransCore and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission are on schedule to complete another phase of an adaptive traffic control system - just in time for Super Bowl 2014. To improve traffic flow and reduce congestion, TransCore began engineering and installing an adaptive traffic control system at more than 100 intersections throughout the 30-square miles of the Hackensack Meadowlands District.