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

  • July 7, 2017
    Missouri’s smart solution for rural road monitoring
    David Crawford sees how Missouri is using commercially available information to rapidly improve monitoring and driver information on rural highways. Missouri is a predominantly rural state with the second largest number of farms in the country and agriculture the main occupation in 97 of its 114 counties. US statistics starkly reveal how road accidents in rural areas tend to be more serious than in urban regions and of the 32,000 US motorists killed each year, 54% die on roads in rural areas even though onl
  • November 21, 2012
    Doha implements traffic control system
    Expansion of ITS systems has accelerated in Qatar this year, with rapid deployment of a traffic control system in Doha. Less than 10 years from now an extensive system of ITS technology will be operating in Qatar, informing and directing users of the country’s roads. That can be stated with confidence for a number of reasons: the world’s richest country per capita will host the World Cup in 2022 and is understood to be planning to develop sophisticated systems of ITS for road safety and traffic managemen
  • June 8, 2015
    ITS solutions to keep truck traffic moving
    David Crawford reviews freight management initiatives. Managing truck traffic to minimise its environmental impacts, without adversely impacting on its critical economic role, continues to drive ITS-based solutions in both urban and interurban contexts.
  • May 31, 2013
    Siemens’ Stratos offers scalable solution
    Developed using the latest cloud-based technology, Siemens says its Stratos system delivers scalable real-time traffic management, information and control, from basic monitoring to strategic control of complex urban traffic environments. Proven traffic management systems have been integrated to create Stratos and provide streamlined, seamless user interaction with access anywhere on smart mobile devices as well as traditional control rooms. Siemens says Stratos is the complete solution for car parking, VMS,