Skip to main content

Greater Manchester gets enhanced signage

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Swarco Traffic are working together on a scheme funded by the Department for Transport under the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) to provide enhanced driver information on roads around Greater Manchester. The scheme is part of the wider LSTF initiative being undertaken by TfGM to enhance network management and provide accurate real time traveller information to the public through a wide variety of media. Full colour matrix variable message signs (VM
April 15, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
817 Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and 129 Swarco Traffic are working together on a scheme funded by the 1837 Department for Transport under the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) to provide enhanced driver information on roads around Greater Manchester.

The scheme is part of the wider LSTF initiative being undertaken by TfGM to enhance network management and provide accurate real time traveller information to the public through a wide variety of media.

Full colour matrix variable message signs (VMS) are to be installed at around 40 key sites. The signs will primarily be used to display journey time, traffic incident information, alternative routing, and network congestion information using either text or graphics (or a mixture of both) to maximise the impact of the message. The signs will be networked back to TfGM’s UTMC system, enabling messages to be set either automatically by timetable and strategy plan, or manually by the traffic centre operators.

Swarco will deploy their latest generation full colour sign which uses a patented lens system to maximise colour contrast, legibility, and uniformity, whilst minimising power consumption, and providing optimal performance in all operating conditions.

According to Swarco, the flexibility of this technology can accommodate a variety of other applications in the future, such as providing parking guidance and displaying full colour images to promote events and provide tourist information.

Related Content

  • December 17, 2014
    Communications redundancy increases VMS reliability
    Hybrid communications to variable message signs increase resilience to natural disasters and enable deployment in remote areas, as Alan Allegretto explains. Variable Message Signs (VMSs) are a common sight and a well-proven means to improve public safety on our roads and highways. ITS professionals rank the VMS as second only to interoperable radios as the most important technology to improve effectiveness during emergency incidents and evacuations. Ironically, however, current systems suffer from one criti
  • July 13, 2015
    Swarco installs dynamic parking guidance system in German city
    Swarco has installed a new dynamic parking guidance system in the city of Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany, in an effort to achieve a more efficient usage of the existing parking facilities in the city. Eight parking lots are integrated into the system, which features an open parking capability to detect vehicles entering and leaving cars via video technology. The system also includes 29 LCD variable message signs (VMS), five of which feature two-line information displays to display local event information.
  • July 24, 2012
    Urban utility
    Steve Lane, Commercial Director at Triteq, talks about the successful deployment of ZigBee in Barcelona where a low-cost wireless metropolitan network for location and citizen services was established. The project, he says, demonstrates ZigBee's effectiveness as an urban communications system solution ZigBee is based on the IEEE radio frequency standard 802.15.4 - 2006 for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN), which provides a license-free radio frequency for a flexible, robust private wireless network. Z
  • October 7, 2013
    Keeping over-height and overheating vehicles out of tunnels
    A review of pre-warning solutions for problematic commercial vehicles approaching tunnels