Skip to main content

TRL on track with uTraq

Given the recent position from the European Court of Justice on nitrogen dioxides (NO2) levels within UK cities, TRL has made a timely announcement to say that it is leading a European Space Agency demonstration project called uTraq (Urban Traffic Management and Air Quality) with partners the University of Leicester and Transport Simulation Systems.
November 24, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

 Given the recent position from the European Court of Justice on nitrogen dioxides (NO2) levels within UK cities, 491 TRL has made a timely announcement to say that it is leading a European Space Agency demonstration project called uTraq (Urban Traffic Management and Air Quality) with partners the University of Leicester and 2195 Transport Simulation Systems.

uTraq integrates with the existing traffic management systems of urban and municipal authorities, enabling them to enhance their management of traffic flow and to improve air quality, as well as reducing traffic delays and congestion.  NO2 is one of the major transportation related emissions which is addressed by the uTraq system, which TRL says has the potential to deliver an effective and coordinated approach to the reduction of nitrogen dioxide levels within UK cities.

Current traffic management systems do not have air quality information to drive their strategy decisions so cannot support emissions based policies. uTraq breaks new ground by bringing air quality and weather monitoring systems, modelling / traffic forecasting tools and adaptive traffic management systems into one single user-centric, intelligent, integrated solution.

TRL is leading the demonstration of the uTraq system across three local authorities in the UK as part of the project and is currently seeking authorities who would be interested in being part of a second wave of demonstration pilots.  

Initially, uTraq will integrate with the TRL SCOOT traffic management system, but it is designed with a system architecture that can support other traffic management systems in future developments.


For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Q&A: Why has Almaviva bought Iteris?
    January 17, 2025
    US-based ITS sector veteran Iteris has been bought for $335m by Italian digital specialist Almaviva. But who exactly is the new owner and what does it want? Adam Hill finds out…
  • The benefits of Lidar
    March 21, 2022

    While Lidar is gaining ground in the ITS industry, it has not yet reached the level of mass adoption where it shows up frequently in requests for proposals (RFPs) from cities and DoTs.

  • After two decades of research, ITS is getting into its stride
    June 4, 2015
    Colin Sowman gets the global view on how ITS has shaped the way we travel today and what will shape the way we travel tomorrow. Over the past two decades the scope and spread of intelligent transport systems has grown and diversified to encompass all modes of travel while at the same time integrating and consolidating. Two decades ago the idea of detecting cyclists or pedestrians may have been considered impossible and why would you want to do that anyway? Today cyclists can account for a significant propor
  • Dynamic charging boosts electric vehicles’ potential
    December 16, 2014
    With an increasing need to use electric vehicles in city centres to reduce pollution, David Crawford looks at various solutions to power delivery. The UN’s September 2014 Climate Summit has added fresh momentum to the drive to increase urban electric vehicle (EV) takeup. It has launched the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative, which wants to see EVs accounting for 30% of all urban travel by 2030, and make cities worldwide more friendly to their use. Encouragingly, the plan is being well supported by commerci