Urban Traffic Control

The European Commission is keen to boost road safety and analysis of road accident statistics. A key component of this move will be improving transparency over the safety of road infrastructure, in accordance with their obligations under European law. So far 11 European member states have been warned by the European Commission to be more open about the safety on infrastructure networks.

A UK government strategy to tackle congestion caused by motorway closures and drive down the £1 billion (US$1.6 billion) annual cost to the economy has been unveiled by Roads Minister Mike Penning, who also announced the launch of a £3 million ($4.87 million) fund for police forces to purchase laser scanning technology to speed up of the investigation process and incident clear up times.

Spanish IT firm, Eptisa TI, has developed a new computer which will allow the Spanish regional government for Aragon and road concession companies to maintain control of their road network and manage possible incidents. The system, based on ESRI’s Geographic Information System (GIS), will allow companies to manage eight sectors which contain some 2,400 km of roads which are the responsibility of the Aragon government. The new system is part of the RED Project, which is budgeted at over US$949 million for

TransCore has won three separate contracts to provide ITS design, construction and integration services for the Nevada Department of Transportation. The projects include a 30-mile extension of the FAST traffic management system along I-15 from outside Las Vegas to the California border; a 15-mile expansion of the FAST traffic management system along I-515 on the eastern side of the Las Vegas metropolitan area; and a 10-mile segment of I-80 in Reno, Nevada, as part of a roadway reconstruction project.

Swindon in the UK is set to trial smart traffic lights which turn to red if approaching drivers are breaking the speed limit. Sensors will detect speeding vehicles and if they are above a preset limit then the signals ahead will turn to red. If congestion builds up then the traffic light phasing will change automatically to allow more traffic through the junction. ANPR systems will detect emergency vehicles and ensure they are not inhibited by the system.

Smart Signal Technologies has launched what it claims is a remarkable new product that will save taxpayers millions of dollars annually as it improves traffic signal performance along the congested signalised arterial corridors. The product, a compact device with powerful data collection and communication features, permits the gathering of high resolution data for processing into actionable real-time information to measure and monitor signal and corridor performance.

Russian company Tolltec is currently implementing ITS technology to optimise the high traffic volumes on the 115km-long St. Petersburg's ring motorway that stretches around the whole city. As part of this project, PTV software, including the company's TrafficCountManagement and VISSIM, is part of the ITS technology used for St. Petersburg's ring road.

Alterations to traffic signals and variable message signs are being activated to reduce congestion as soon as it occurs, through a pioneering fully automatic UTC system. Jon Masters reports In the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley in England, strategies for dealing with traffic congestion have been devised from analysis of queue data, then made to work automatically: “This represents the future of ITS for urban traffic control,” says Siemens Consultancy Services senior engineer David Carr. Over a career span

The US Department of Transportation has announced the six cities where it will hold Driver Acceptance Clinics for the connected vehicle programme. The first clinic will be held in Brooklyn, MI, near Detroit, in August, while the remaining clinics will be held in Minneapolis, Orlando, FL, Blacksburg, VA, Dallas and San Francisco.

Following a successful trial in 2007, VicRoads has adopted Streams Motorway Management from Transmax as its primary traffic management and control system Throughout the world, the avoidable social cost of traffic congestion continues to rise each year with increased motorisation, urbanisation and population growth. Traffic congestion is responsible for an increase in travel times, vehicle operating costs and carbon emissions. In 2007, VicRoads commissioned Streams Motorway Management for the M1 Monash Freew