Skip to main content

EarthSense clears traffic from pollution hotspots

EarthSense is working in the UK with Coventry City Council to divert traffic away from heavily congested roads and pollution hotspots. EarthSense’s air quality sensors are located in areas of the city where levels of nitrogen dioxide have been identified as high; particularly along the A4600 route at Walsgrave Road – a major link in and out of Coventry. When pollution levels are breached, the sensors send alerts to the urban traffic management centre where they trigger messaging on variable message s
August 2, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

8834 EarthSense is working in the UK with Coventry City Council to divert traffic away from heavily congested roads and pollution hotspots.

EarthSense’s air quality sensors are located in areas of the city where levels of nitrogen dioxide have been identified as high; particularly along the A4600 route at Walsgrave Road – a major link in and out of Coventry.

When pollution levels are breached, the sensors send alerts to the urban traffic management centre where they trigger messaging on variable message signs (VMS) which inform motorists and suggest alternative routes.

Shamala Evans, senior project manager at the council, says: “We’re taking early measures with the aim of encouraging motorists to make small changes to help reduce the pollution levels and traffic congestion before it’s too late and we’re forced to introduce chargeable clean air zones.”

Once the pollution levels have reached acceptable standards, the alerts are deactivated, and the VMS is removed.

John Seddon, the council’s head of transport & innovation, says: “The city council is keen to install the right technology across Coventry’s road network to allow us to dynamically manage traffic and respond to issues such as poor air quality or traffic incidents as soon as they happen.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • SESA deploys dynamic Trailblazer signs for Michigan DOT
    May 6, 2016
    SES America (SESA) recently completed the manufacture and installation of full colour LED dynamic Trailblazer signs for the Michigan Department of Transportation and is set to soon begin manufacturing of additional signs for the next phase of this ongoing work. The signs are part of integrated corridor management along I-75 designed by the Michigan Department of Transportation. Each sign is part of SESA’s Messenger 5000 embedded DMS series, a line of embedded DMS designed to display travel time, toll rate,
  • Cooperative infrastructure systems waiting for the go ahead
    February 3, 2012
    Despite much research and technological promise, progress towards cooperative infrastructure system deployment is still slow. Here, Robert Cone and John Miles take a considered look at how and when it might come about. From a systems engineering viewpoint it looks logical and inevitable that vehicles should be communicating between themselves and with the road infrastructure. But seen from a business viewpoint the case is not proven.
  • Wireless traffic data in real time
    January 31, 2012
    The effect of moving objects on the electromagnetic landscape set up by cellular telephony networks can be detected and interpreted to give real-time traffic data across large geographical areas at low cost. Here, we revisit the Celldar concept. Global economic downturn has pushed public-sector agencies, transport administrations among them, to push even harder for cost efficiencies. Unfortunately, when it comes to transport safety and efficiency the public sector often has to work up to a cost rather than
  • Volvo and KPMG find buses are key to urban air quality
    September 13, 2016
    Buses can play a key role in the battle to improve air quality in towns and cities as David Crawford discovers. A city with a population of half a million would gain about US$12.3 million in annualised societal savings if all its buses ran on electricity instead of diesel. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging analysis carried out by Swedish bus manufacturer Volvo Group and global business consultants KPMG.