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

  • MaaSLab research assesses Londoners’ attitude to MaaS
    March 28, 2018
    As delegates head for our second MaaS Market Conference, Colin Sowman examines a new report looking at the potential impact of Mobility as a Service on London’s travellers and transport providers. In the run-up to ITS International’s MaaS Market (London) conference, a new independent report examining the travelling public’s appetite for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) has been published. Until now, there has been no real evidence base to evaluate the extent to which MaaS could change travel behaviour in
  • Towards common standards for cooperative road infrastructures
    July 23, 2012
    Michael Noblett of Connexis discusses international progress towards common standards for cooperative road infrastructures. Will vehicle safety communications standards be able to support ITS on the international level, or will we settle once again for regional interoperability only? The answer lies in the current status of the draft standards themselves, and the requirements users and authorities are placing on the people who draft them.
  • Monitoring and transparency preserve enforcement's reputation
    July 30, 2012
    What can be done to preserve automated enforcement's reputation in the face of media and public criticism? Here, system manufacturers and suppliers talk about what they think are the most appropriate business models. Recent events in Italy only served to once again to push automated enforcement into the media spotlight. At the heart of the matter were the numerous alleged instances of local authorities and their contract suppliers of enforcement services colluding to illegally shorten amber signal phase tim
  • For better air quality ‘cities need to turn to gas powered trucks and buses’
    May 1, 2015
    The UK’s cities are under unprecedented pressure to improve air quality, as Supreme Court justices in London order that air quality plans to comply with European Union (EU) law on limits for nitrogen dioxide (NOx) in the air must be submitted to the European Commission no later than 31 December 2015. The case was brought by ClientEarth, a group of lawyers dedicated to environmental issues, which says the ruling means the Government must start work on a comprehensive plan to meet pollution limits as soon