Skip to main content

Smart road layout with Lindsay’s Road Zipper

Lindsay Transportation Solutions is focusing on its Road Zipper system for ITS applications. This moveable barrier system quickly reconfigures the road to mitigate congestion, while providing positive barrier protection between opposing lanes of traffic.
October 10, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Chris Sanders of Lindsay showcasing the Road Zipper system

7613 Lindsay Transportation Solutions is focusing on its Road Zipper system for ITS applications. This moveable barrier system quickly reconfigures the road to mitigate congestion, while providing positive barrier protection between opposing lanes of traffic. Road Zipper can be used to create flexible bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors that can be returned to traffic during non-commute periods to maximise the full use of the roadway. BRT corridors allow agencies to deliver fast, reliable, cost-effective transportation services to move people in, out, and around urban centres.

Automated decisions regarding when to change lane patterns can decrease congestion to a greater degree than reconfiguring the road based solely on a structured time schedule. Lindsay’s ITS partners collect cell phone and microwave radar data to analyse traffic patterns in real time.

Once this data is compared with historical patterns or sitespecific algorithms, the Road Zipper moveable barrier is used to make changes to the road configuration.

When considered in the planning stages of new road construction, Lindsay Transportation Solutions says the Road Zipper provides additional important options for future flexibility as the number of road users constantly increases.

This is because the greatest challenge in reconfiguring an existing roadway into a managed lanes facility is often the permanent centre median barrier. This inflexible divider bifurcates the roadway and narrows the possibilities into a “left side, right side” mentality. However, roads that are designed without any permanent concrete barriers are ultimately flexible and reconfigurable.

Moveable medians can adjust traffic flow quickly and safely, and the options increase exponentially with two or more moveable walls. Vehicles can be separated by direction, passenger count, vehicle type, speed, payment and even autonomous capability to move more people safely through a heavily travelled corridor.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cross border enforcement a logical step
    January 30, 2012
    The logic supporting a cross-border enforcement Directive for the European Union (EU) is both detailed and compelling. The White Paper on European transport policy published in 2001 included the ambitious objective of reducing by 50 per cent by 2010 the number of people killed on the roads of the EU. But since 2005 the reduction in the number of road deaths has been slowing down: overall, the period from 2001 until 2009 saw the number of fatalities decrease by 36 per cent. According to Community indicators,
  • Managing congestion, better information changes perceptions
    January 31, 2012
    Kapsch's Dietrich Leihs talks about the true fundamentals of urban pricing. In some Italian and German towns and cities, the solution to congestion is an outright ban on certain types of vehicles. As far as Dietrich Leihs is concerned, any attempt to sweeten the pill that is congestion charging is only ever going to be a partial success at best.
  • Changing roles in data collection for traffic management
    January 23, 2012
    Transport for Greater Manchester's David Hytch discusses the evolving roles of the public and private sector in managing and disseminating data. Data services for traffic management were once the sole preserve of public sector organisations, they being uniquely placed and equipped for the work involved. Now, though, this is changing. There is even a presumption in some countries that the private sector will take a greater, if not actually a lead, role in the provision of information for transport management
  • ITS can reduce Bangkok’s congestion, improve safety
    August 24, 2015
    A new research report produced by the GSMA, Building Digital Societies in Asia: Making Transportation Smarter, indicates that the successful implementation of intelligent transport systems (ITS) in Thailand’s capital could reduce travel times, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and road accidents, driving social and economic benefits of up to US$1 billion per year. In addition, the case study on Bangkok’s transportation indicated that ITS can also potentially result in long-term positive changes in commuter hab