Skip to main content

Road signs in a flap

The Danish Road Directorate and Daluiso have developed a new type of road sign to make road works and maintenance tasks more efficient. Called 'swap signs', their function is to flap open/shut near road works, spring cleaning or grass cutting by contractors.
July 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The 1845 Danish Road Directorate and Daluiso have developed a new type of road sign to make road works and maintenance tasks more efficient. Called 'swap signs', their function is to flap open/shut near road works, spring cleaning or grass cutting by contractors.

Importantly, the smart thing about these signs is that they are put in place, on the hard shoulder and central reservation, in the small hours when there is least traffic on the roads. They are deployed in neutral mode (grey background) and therefore no information is seen by the road user until work actually gets under way.

When the contractor arrives, the signs are activated by an internet-based system using a laptop. Only signs covering the area actually being worked on need be activated and, as the work progresses along the roadway, these swap signs can be flapped open and closed as need be.

As Daluiso points out, up to an hour of working time can be used by a contractor just setting up conventional signs. With swap signs, contractors can start work as soon as they reach the working area.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Investment boost for Canada’s weather warning systems
    August 5, 2013
    David Crawford reviews national and regional initiatives to boost Canada’s weather forecasting. Over the next five years Canada’s national weather services are due to benefit from a CAN$248 million injection of funding into the Environment Canada (EC) department to deliver timelier and more accurate weather warnings and forecasts for users including travellers and transport operators. The scheme, set out in the country’s 2013 Economic Action Plan, is to revitalise the services with new investments in federa
  • Travel times halve for tolling converts
    August 5, 2013
    The Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver is a prime example of how the latest ITS systems enable new infrastructures to be built and paid for while still providing additional user benefits. Vancouver has 2.2 million inhabitants and, like so many major cities, is divided into two by a river, the Frazer river. This combination makes Vancouver the second most congested city in North America and the most congested in Canada. Through the middle of the city runs the Trans-Canadian Highway 1 which crosses the Frazer Riv
  • Priority boosts ridership and cuts congestion
    May 4, 2016
    Transit priority is proving a win-win in Europe and Australia. David Crawford reports. Technology that integrates with the Australian-originated Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) is driving bus signal priority and performance analysis initiatives on both sides of the world; in its homeland, with a major deployment in 2015, and in the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
  • Vivacity demos AI junction control
    March 18, 2021
    How will AI-controlled junctions help smooth the journeys of drivers – and cyclists - in urban areas? Alan Dron looks at an expanding scheme in Manchester, UK, which aims to find out