thinking highways europe/row sep 08

choice

THINKINGHIGHWAYSEUROPE/REST of the WORLD EDITION

Volume 3 • Issue 3 • September 2008

GREAT MINDS...Ian Catling, Gethin Perry and

Andrew Pickford on consulting

NO COMPETITIONPhil Tarnoff on private, public and academic matters

UPON REFLECTIONIntelligent road studs: a history, by Stephen Slater

TIME TO MOBILISETom Vöge looks at the prospects for automated transport systems

PLUS: Traffi c Management • Traffex 2009 Preview • ALPR• Enforcement • Traffi c Simulation • Road User Charging• Video Analytics • Czech Rep • Slovakia • Australia • Singapore• South Africa • Greece • LOGOS • Rik Nuyttens

Advanced transportation management

policy • strategy • technology finance • innovation • implementation

integration • interoperability

the

INTELLIGENTchoice

When we founded H3B Media more than two years ago we were as committed to not making this a vanity project as we were to wanting to produce magazines that contained articles that you actually want to read.

We fully appreciate that you are all busy people and that many of you have to catch up on your reading at home or on the train, bus or plane, so it would, we decided at the outset, to fill Thinking Highways with what a friend of mine succinctly describes as “commercial fluff.”

Where we firmly believe that we have been very successful with that, I’m never too sure if I succeed in that respect with my foreword. I don’t pretend for a minute that everyone reads it and I certainly don’t think it’s always appropriate to offer my opinions on things that, frankly, you probably know more about than I do.

I have decided to err on the side of caution again and instead I want to briefly take

Editor-in-ChiefKevin Borras ([email protected])

Sales and MarketingLuis Hill ([email protected])Tim Guest ([email protected])

Design and Layout Phoebe Bentley, Kevin Borras

Contributing Editors Bruce Abernethy, Richard Bishop, Lee J Nelson, Andrew Pickford, Phil Sayeg, Phil Tarnoff, Paul Vorster Harold Worrall

Contributors to this issueTom Antonissen, Nicola Bartesaghi, Wolfgang Bürkle, Bill Butler, Ian Catling, Phil Charles, Per Ecker, Alex Gerodimos, Paul Glover, Andy Graham, Frank Long, Vassilis Mizaras, Rik Nuyttens, Gethin Perry, Margaret Pettit, Andrew Pickford, Andy Rooke, Stephen Slater, Phil Tarnoff, Alex Torday, Vibeke Ulmann, Tom Vöge, Paul Vorster, Jean-Hubert Wilbrod

Thinking Highways is published by H3B Media Ltd.

ISSN 1753-433X

Thinking Highways is published quarterly in two editions – North America and Europe/Rest of the World - and is available on subscription at £30/€40 (Europe/RoW) and US$60 (North America). Distributed in the USA by DSW 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Thinking Highways, 13705 North Ivy lake Road, Chillicothe, Illinois 61523, USA.

Although due care has been taken to ensure that the content of this publication is accurate and up-to-date, the publisher can accept no liability for errors and omissions. Unless otherwise stated, this publication has not tested products or services that are described herein, and their inclusion does not imply any form of endorsement. By accepting advertisements in this publication, the publisher does not warrant their accuracy, nor accept responsibility for their contents. The publisher welcomes unsolicited manuscripts and illustrations but can accept no liability for their safe return.

© 2008 H3B Media Ltd. All rights reserved. The views and opinions of the authors are not necessarily those of H3B Media Ltd.Reproduction (in whole or in part) of any text, photograph or illustration contained in this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Printed in the UK by The Manson Group

A veritable smorgasbordWelcome to 104 pages of superbly written, thought-provoking opinion pieces, case studies, interviews and analysis ... and a photo of Alan Whicker

1Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3www.thinkinghighways.com

Foreword Thinking

CEO & Co-FounderLuis Hill

Vice-President, Publishing & Co-Founder

Kevin Borras

www.thinkinghighways.com

Kevin Borras is publishing director of H3B Media and editor-in-chief of Thinking Highways

inner workings of his thought process. Greece’s urban transport modernisation plans are analysed by Vassilis Mizaras and Margaret Pettit turns her financial eye towards the Czech and Slovak republics. The issue is completed by a Traffex preview by Bill Butler, interviews with Per Ecker and Paul Vorster and excellent technical pieces by Vibeke Ulmann, Frank Long, Nicola Bartesaghi, Wolfgang Bürkle and Jean-Hubert Wilbrod.

And finally... on the day that the Large Hadron Collider attempted to recreate the Big Bang comes news that stupidity is equally alive and well. I was walking behind an elderly couple on the way into the office this morning and the man was struggling to light his cigarette in the breeze. He must have tried a dozen times before agitatedly giving up.

“You know why you can’t light that, don’t you?” said his wife. “It’s because you’re going downhill.”

Now that’s genius. TH

Sub-Editor and Proofreader Maria Vasconcelos

Subscriptions and CirculationJodie Graham ([email protected])

VisualisationTom Waldschmidt ([email protected])

Conferences and EventsOdile Pignier (odile@h3bmedia.,com)

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EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING H3B Media Ltd, 15 Onslow Gardens, Wallington, Surrey SM6 9QL, UKTel +44 (0)208 254 9406Fax +44 (0)208 647 0045Email [email protected]

you through the veritable smorgasbord of articles at your disposal, and then end with the funniest thing I’ve heard for years.

Stephen Slater makes his TH bow with two pieces - one celebrating 75 years of the reflecting road stud, the other a fascinating look at how staging an F1 Grand Prix impacts on Singapore’s traffic. Our cover feature sees consultants Ian Catling, Andrew Pickford and Gethin Perry talk about how they work with local and national authorities on three continents, while Phil Tarnoff hopes his plea for the triumverate of sectors (private, public and universities) to work together doesn’t fall on deaf ears. Another TH first-timer, Tom Vöge, considers the state of play in the automated vehicles sector and Andy Graham, Paul Glover and Andy Rooke assess the UK’s Freeflow project from the inside. Alexes Torday and Gerodimos get to grips with live traffic simulation and 3M’s Rik Nuyttens lets us into the

Contents

COLUMNS04 The Voice From Brussels

08 Prof Phil Charles’ Australian Update

12 Dr Paul Vorster’s South African Update

THE THINKER18 ITS guru Phil Tarnoff on why the public sector,

private sector and the universities should work together

COVER STORY23 Thinking Highways’ guide to international consulting, presented by the consultants themselves: Gethin Perry, Ian Catling and

Andrew Pickford

AUTOMATED TRANSPORT30 Tom Vöge looks at the historical developments, current trends and future outlook for automated vehicles

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT38 Is it possible to optimise traffic flow and inform

and guide travellers at the same time? Paul Glover, Andy Graham and Andy Rooke have the answers

TRAFFIC SIMULATION42 An exciting new era in traffic and transport simulation is heralded in by Alex Torday and Alex Gerodimo

THE THOUGHT PROCESS48 Rik Nuyttens, 3M Europe’s Regulatory Affairs

Manager and Vice President of the IRF’s Brussels and Geneva Programme Centres

SPEED DETECTION54 Wolfgang Bürkle’s take on the market’s most

effective traffic calming measure

SHOW PREVIEW58 Bill Butler looks forward to next April’s Traffex 2009

ROAD USER CHARGING60 The RUC market is set for an encouraging

growth spurt according to Per Ecker

GREECE64 Greece’s urban public transport system was in

desperate need of modernisation. Luckily, says Vassilis Mizaras, it’s getting it

ROAD STUDS70 Stephen Slater celebrates the 75th anniversary

of the reflecting road stud

ALPR76 Frank Long takes the leaner route to automatic

licence plate recognition...

INTELLIGENT CCTV80 A new generation of intelligent CCTVsystems

is improving tunnel, bridge and highway safety, as Nicola Bartesaghi reports

84 Vibeke Ulmann talks to video analytics experts Chris Gomersall and Dr Alan Hayes

TRAFFiC MANAGEMENT88 A Formula 1 Grand Prix isn’t glitz, glamour and

terrifyingly fast cars. When the venue is a street circuit there are traffic management issues to be considered as well, says

Stephen Slater

SURVEILLANCE94 Jean-Hubert Wilbrod on keeping an eye on

rural highways... with a perfect example of how it can be done very close to home

FINANCE AND FUNDING98 Margaret Pettit turns her attention jointly to the

Czech Republic and Slovakia

104 Advertisers’ Index

p38

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Climate Change

When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt

compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts

onm and solutions for, climate changeStunted

growth

The Thinker

57Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3www.h3bmedia.com

The Thinker

Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways56 www.h3bmedia.com

The mysterious case of the three-legged stool

Public employees are lazy and unimaginative. Pri-vate sector employees actions are based exclusively on the almighty dollar and university faculties ignore project objectives and schedules when con-ducting research.

These insulting perceptions are neither accurate nor fair. But they are repeated here as an indication of the degree of misunderstanding that exists among the three major sectors of the transportation community; public, private and university.

These statements ignore the fact that the great major-ity of employees within all sectors of the transportation industry work hard to achieve their common goal of improving the system within the constraints of their cho-sen area of employment. It is unfortunate that these opinions exist when there has never been a greater need for cooperation and collaboration within an indus-try that is undergoing major changes that include:

• Privatization: The public sector is relying on the private sector to an increasing extent for provision of services including design, construction, operations and management. Without an appreciation of both the capa-bilities and limitations of the private sector, the move toward privatization will not succeed. In addition, the public sector must also develop an appreciation of the ways in which its pro-curement practices influence private sector performance.

• Workforce development: There is a shortage of professionals trained to meet the needs of the public and private sectors. The university community which is the obvious source of supply falls short of providing both the quantity and qual-ity of needed graduates. An understanding of the moti-vations and priorities of this sector of the transportation industry is important if the shortage is to be corrected.

• Technology: Technology is rapidly advancing, which creates challenges for all sectors of the transpor-tation community, all of whom would benefit from its application. An understanding of their mutual capabili-ties and motivations is needed to ensure that the indus-try takes advantage of new technologies as they become available.

A little bit of backstoryFor these reasons, it is important to improve the relation-ships among the various sectors of the transportation community. The manner in which this might be accom-plished requires an intimate knowledge of their charac-teristics and capabilities.

Viewing my transportation career of nearly 40 years, one would conclude that I have been unable to hold a job; having been a public sector employee while work-ing for the Federal Highway Administration, a private sector employee while working for Alan M. Voorhees and Associates as well as PB Farradyne, and most recently a university employee while working for the University of Maryland.

While at the University of Maryland, I have also enjoyed a close working relationship with the Maryland Depart-

The public sector, the private sector and the universities are the triumverate of essential but often disparate ingredients in the transport community mix - but isn’t it time that we all just got along? PHIL TARNOFF thinks it is

ment of Transportation. This breadth of experience qualifies me (or at least I think it does) to reflect on the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the three sectors of the transportation community, including their cultures and their assets and to suggest ways in which these characteristics can be leveraged in a way that strengthens the overall industry.

Sector characteristicsFew, if any, individuals enter the transportation engi-neering field with the objective of becoming multi-mil-lionaires. Instead, like most technical professions, newcomers enter the field with the vague notion of a career that offers a reliable (comfortable) income, work-ing on interesting projects that might produce societal benefits. Although the balance of monetary rewards, interesting work and societal benefits shifts somewhat among possible transportation career paths, most of its participants are motivated by some combination of the three.

It should be noted that the following discussion of industry sectors emphasizes organizations responsible for infrastructure development and operation. Many major sectors such as vehicle manufacturers, transit

operators and commercial vehicle operators have been excluded to pro-vide focus for the following discussion.

Public sectorThe public sector includes many types of organizations; the Federal Govern-ment, state and local agencies, metro-politan planning organizations, etc. In spite of their differences, they share a

number of attributes, including job security, good fringe benefits and reasonable (although deteriorating) retire-ment benefits.

Public sector salaries are generally lower than those of either the private or university sectors. With some notable exceptions, the pressures of public sector employment are relatively modest, due at least in part to the job security it offers. Public sector employment fos-ters an environment in which the penalties for failure exceed the rewards for success, with the result that many, (certainly not all) public sector employees have a low tolerance for the risks associated with creativity.

The common denominator among the majority of public sector employees is the feeling that they are the “keepers of the public good”. In other words, since they are not influenced by the profit motive, their actions are oriented toward public service rather than avarice or personal advancement. Many have indicated that they selected the public sector career path out of a desire to contribute to the public’s welfare, and because of the ability to establish public policy – an opportunity that is not available to those in other sectors.

Advancement in the public sector is based on keep-ing the “ship of state” sailing in untroubled waters. Rewards accrue to those who effectively perform the duties they are assigned without creating problems for their superiors.

“Few enter transportation

engineering with the objective of becoming multi-

millionaires”

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The Voice from Brussels

As most people were preparing to enjoy a few weeks summer holiday abroad, the European Commission once again showed its ‘unconventional’ side by publishing the long-awaited “Greening Transport Package” on 8 July, just as politics in Brussels started to slow down (before it grinds to a halt in August).

This huge semi-legislative package (which can be found on http://ec.europa.eu/transport/greening/index_en.htm for those of you brave enough to get overwhelmed by a mountain of proposed texts) was supposed to appear before 10 June – at least this was inserted as an obligation in the current “Eurovignette Directive” – but a change of Commissioners’ seats in light of the Italian elections provided a convenient reason for an extra month for EC

It’s all about the money

officials to get their drafts just right.

Since traditionally Brussels is a “dead” city in the month of August, when both the Commission and the European Parliament are officially closed for business, one can imagine the astonishment caused among all stakeholders that a package of this magnitude managed to pass through all necessary “inter-service consultations” and translators at a time where about a week

TOM ANTONISSEN delves into inner workings of the strangely-timed Greening Transport Package

later most officials would already be packing their bags and telling their families that they are coming home for the summer.

To briefly guide you through this package – which will occupy all sorts of transport-lawmakers for several years to come – allow me to summarise what exactly the published documents consist of.

Package dealThe Greening Transport Communication is essentially a (non-legally binding) 10-page letter from the Commission to the European Parliament and Council explaining the rationale for the whole package, while summarising already existing initiatives regarding “external

4 Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways www.thinkinghighways.com

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ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW

simplyFLOWING

© 2008 Image Sensing Systems, Inc.

Robert Kelly and Mark Johnson

is being made towards free-flow electronic tolling systems, since queuing of trucks at tollbooths increases congestion, pollution, accident risks and so on – keeping in mind that at this point, the Eurovignette directive and its principle of road user charging only applies to heavy goods vehicles above 3.5 tons, while allowing Member States to decide if they want to expand its (also voluntary) application towards passenger cars.

One of the accompanying PR documents furthermore enumerates that Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic are leading by example, while the Netherlands, France, Hungary and Slovenia have announced their intentions to install electronic toll systems by 2011.

Train of thoughtA Communication on rail noise is also included as the Commission is sticking to its mantra that all modes of transport are being tackled by the Greening Transport Package. This once again non-binding communication points out that the most significant external cost of rail transport to society is noise, since in 2000 about 10 per cent of the EU-15 population was exposed to this health-damaging externality...

The fact that this communication is joined by a dedicated impact assessment should show that the Commission is serious about its plans to introduce legislation to alleviate such noise-related suffering for people living next to rail tracks, leading to the proclaimed objective of retrofitting about 370,000 wagons with low-noise brakes by 2014.

Where will the huge sums needed to realise such retro-fitting come from (especially

costs” (which are again defined as climate change, local pollution, noise pollution, congestion and accidents). It details the measures the Commission is intending to take within the next 18 months – after which most EU initiatives will be put on hold in light of the Parliamentary elections in June 2009 and the instalment of a new Commission several months later. The eagerly awaited ITS Action Plan (accompanied by a legislative proposal) also features in this timetable and is set for publication later this year.

The Greening Transport Inventory, on the other hand, is a very clever compilation to describe EU actions already taken, on which the current package is based.

ExternalitiesThe Strategy to Internalise the External Costs of Transport is what everybody has been waiting for, as this communication (again non-binding) formalises what should be adopted as a joint methodology to calculate and internalise the afore-mentioned external costs of transport to society.

The document refers to the “polluter pays” and “user pays” principles (although I have still not figured out how they are different, especially within the transport sector), as well as the principle of “social marginal cost charging/pricing” (for which you will need a degree in advanced economics to understand correctly).

At this point it should be recalled that the principle of social marginal cost pricing is being criticised by many transport practitioners, economics professors and professional lobbyists alike, especially since the Commission seems prone to adopt this principle as the one and only methodology to

being mooted in that same directive as the future standard for distance-based variable pan-European road pricing systems.

Technology comes into play, here as it is linked to the fully interoperable (free-flow) Electronic Toll Collection system the Commission hopes to have in place by 2011-2012, the same time at which it hopes this 3rd generation Eurovignette Directive will have cleared the hurdles in the European Parliament and Council and entered into effect at national level.

In this proposed directive (which is one of the few legally binding documents within the package), a clear preference

“The Strategy to Internalise the

External Costs of Transport is what

everybody has been waiting for”

internalise all external costs from all modes of transport. This in spite of the fact that such a “one size fits all” approach is rarely the best way forward, especially in such a complex matter and taking into account that several other well-established economic principles have proven their effectiveness.

Truck stopThe Proposal for a Directive on road tolls for lorries is the revision of the commonly known “Eurovignette Directive” although this name is somewhat misleading as the Eurovignette itself refers to a basic (and outdated) time-based payment mechanism, which involves putting a sticker on your windscreen.

In fact, this low-tech system has nothing in common with the (electronic) road user charging mechanisms that are

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since the Commission itself states that actual technology does not yet make it cost-efficient to do this)? This is where push comes to shove in the heated discussions continuing to surround this lengthy package: it is all about the money!

The user pays (again)Professional and private road users rightly fear that this noble initiative with supposedly massive public backing will only result in road transport becoming again more expensive (which it has done over the past few decades when ownership-based taxes were introduced alongside fuel duties, which now conveniently rise in conjunction with rising oil prices), and both polluters and users alike will continue to pay the price since it will still be cheaper to transport goods over Europe’s roads then by any other mode of transport or a combination of them.

Then there is the question of revenue allocation, which finance ministries of the Member States have always opposed, and will continue to do so.

The Commission’s proposal contains the suggestion to link the additional income from road charging to alleviating negative impacts of the transport sector as a whole, though the question is if the Council of Ministers will accept such hypothecation this time round.

Action planFurthermore, the following actions are being put forward as to where this income should benefit the transport sector and its users: research and development on cleaner and more energy efficient vehicles; investments to replace tollbooths by free flow tolling technologies; local action plans on management of air quality and environmental

noise and (last but definitely not least) building alternative transport infrastructure for transport users.

Though perfectly commendable on first viewing, this last “suggestion” is causing the public transport and rail lobbies to eagerly back the proposal, as it would de facto mean that a significant part of the additional income generated through road charging (which will affect all taxpayers alike, both direct polluters as well as users of all sorts of consumer goods being transported by road) will be flowing to additional public transport and rail schemes.

These lobbies (as always backed by a very vocal green lobby) have already made their point: that additional

The Voice from Brussels

investments will be needed for existing public transport and rail networks to absorb any significant increase in passengers and goods (an increase which according to the road transport and logistics sector will never happen to the extent that it will make a real difference to the environment).

Coupled to the investments needed to retrofit the huge amount of wagons detailed above, one should start asking how the principle of cost-effectiveness relates to these plans of revenue allocation.

Opinion pieceIn my time working for the road sector (and hence having

Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3 7www.thinkinghighways.com

“Then there is the question of

revenue allocation, which

fi nance ministries of the Member States

have always opposed”

a biased judgement, consciously reflected in this column), I quickly realised that many solutions do exist to counter climate change from road transport (existing and future vehicle emission norms, CO2-based taxation and fuel duties, CO2-labelling and green public procurement, incentives to realise a faster renewal of the existing car parc without shipping older vehicles overseas, etc); reducing local pollution (idem); noise pollution (promoting quieter vehicles and installing noise barriers along the roads); managing congestion (installing Intelligent Transport Systems to optimise existing traffic flows, building additional capacity where clearly needed) and reducing accidents (training safer drivers, creating safer vehicles and making safer roads through the use of adequate safety barriers, vertical marking, horizontal signalling and of course ITS).

Indeed a need for additional investment exists, and this is true for every mode of transport, so in deciding on the thorny issue of revenue allocation, both the members of the European Parliament as well as the national governments should not only let their “green instincts” do the talking, but should start paying attention again to the occasionally overlooked principle of common sense.

This is quite a simple principle that always seems to be buried under political and emotional considerations, which have hardly proven beneficial for the common man in the past. TH

Tom Antonissen is senior consultant at LOGOS Public

Affairs in Brussels. He can be contacted by email at

[email protected] or visit the website at

www.logos-eu.com

Tripping the site fantastic

Prof Phil Charles’ Australian Update

Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways www.thinkinghighways.com8

Technology is making trips more reliable - PROF PHIL CHARLES explains how

Traffic information services have evolved from delivering basic guidance to users (such as the location of specific incidents or major congestion) to offering real-time traffic flow data and now to helping drivers make better decisions by providing real-time and predictive information.

As car drivers we don’t like everyday traffic congestion, but we become used to it and plan for it. We leave early enough to get to where we are going on time. But unexpected congestion is another thing. We hate it. As you approach a traffic jam that you were not aware of (and it’s too late to do anything about it!) – this is the first level of traffic information.

Delays have a valueThere is a significant body of research that confirms that unexpected delays are perceived differently from recurring delays due to peak period congestion. Studies have found that transport users placed a value on travel time variability of more than twice the value placed on the average travel time. So maybe drivers will pay to not be surprised. Travellers want travel time reliability – or they want good traffic information in real-time to help them decide how to avoid traffic jams.

Traffic information is becoming readily available as decision support in congested conditions. The first generation

of traffic information involves a basic level such as recorded messages on traffic hotlines, radio broadcasts, text descriptions on websites or SMS messages to your phone.

The next generation involved graphic displays of congestion levels (usually traffic speeds). A number of free traffic services have also sprung up, many by transport agencies and some as an adjunct to search engines (and advertising).

Google provides live traffic information for many large US cities on Google maps (maps.google.com).

Similar services are available around the world, such as those provided on the Traffic England site by the

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Since 75 years Robot Visual Systems stands for develop-ment of modern camera technology. Today we are the market leader in the area of transport surveillance and transport safety technology. Our stationary and mobile systems should contribute to measurably reducing traffi c accidents. This is our vision; ROBOT is working on it each day with its highly specialised team.

IT´S ALL ABOUT TRAFFIC SAFETY.

75 years ROBOT Visual Systems

Robert Kelly and Mark Johnson

Highways Agency (www.trafficengland.com), by VMZ in Berlin (www.vmzberlin.de) and One Motoring site by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (www.onemotoring.com.sg). In Australia the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria provides a free site (maps.racv.com.au) with current congestion levels. This information is provided by Suna Traffic Channel (more about them later).

These services provide useful information to plan your journey and avoid unexpected delays, however they need to be viewed in a browser on your computer, and conditions may well change by the time you have travelled part of the way on your journey. Availability of the latest generation smart phones overcomes this, as you can now take the information with you (but may not be very safe to view while driving).

Not the whole storyThese solutions can give drivers a rough idea of what traffic is like right now, or plot the shortest route to a destination based on speed limits. However, data from traffic detectors can be incomplete and services don’t take adequate account of other dynamic variables that can affect traffic patterns, like sporting events, roadworks and weather.

In-vehicle information is the next obvious development. Services packaged with in-vehicle navigation devices have been available for some time (outside of Australia). In late 2007 the Suna Traffic Channel was established as a subscription service, now available in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane through various in-vehicle navigation devices equipped with a RDS-TMC (Radio Data Message – Traffic Message Channel) receiver. This service can

either inform the user of any delays on their route by a graphic on a map or a spoken message or automatically re-route around any significant traffic congestion. Suna’s service broadcasts traffic information, such as incidents and delays, as well as major events and other factors that may be of interest to motorists on motorways and other major traffic arterials.

Information flowThe next generation of development is predicting congestion. INRIX (www.inrix.com), using modelling and prediction technologies, takes traffic information to a new level, helping drivers in major cities in the US and UK make better decisions through real- time, historical and predictive traffic data generated from a wide range of sources. Their Smart Dust Network collects real-time and historical data from hundreds of public and private sources – including anonymous, real-time GPS probe data from commercial, delivery and taxi vehicles, toll tags and road occupancy and speed from transport agencies, plus construction and road closures, events, school schedules and weather

forecasts. Then using sophisticated Bayesian modeling and error correction technology generate accurate real-time and predictive traffic data (5 minutes, 15 days or 15 months into the future).

So where next?Intelligent vehicles using advanced communications networks, such as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), could inform drivers about congestion ahead, provide information that warns drivers of changing traffic patterns, automatically adjust the timing on traffic signals along the route to smooth flows and suggest an alternate less congested route. This is the intention of the growing international trend to dedicate the DSRC 5.9 GHz radio frequency exclusively for traffic and safety applications. This could mean a new level of sophistication of supporting driver’s decision making to avoid congestion, maybe even a level of automation by your vehicle. TH

Prof Phil Charles is Director of the Centre for Transport

Strategy at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia.

[email protected]

Prof Phil Charles’ Australian Update


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10 Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways

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ROBOT Visual Systems GmbHOpladener Strasse 20240789 Monheim, GermanyTel. +49 (0)2173-3940-0Fax +49 (0)[email protected]

IT´S ALL ABOUT TRAFFIC SAFETY.

75 years ROBOT Visual Systems

Since 75 years Robot Visual Systems stands for develop-ment of modern camera technology. Today we are the market leader in the area of transport surveillance and transport safety technology. Our stationary and mobile systems should contribute to measurably reducing traffic accidents. This is our vision; ROBOT is working on it each day with its highly specialised team.


Stunted growth

South Africa

Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways12 www.thinkinghighways.com

The ball is rolling...

The biggest challenge confronting South Africa in its preparations for the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2010 is to ensure that the national and municipal trans-port system is up to scratch come 2010.

The acceptance that the transport network needs a serious upgrade and improvement is paving the way for ITS deployment to get a significant boost, says Dr Paul Vorster, CEO of the Intelligent Transport Society South Africa.

The infrastructure upgrades and the integration of ITS into the mainstream transport operations will perma-nently change the way South Africans and visitors to the the country travel.

“From an industry worth only a few million Euro per

annum a few years ago, the local ITS industry has grown into a multi-billion Euro industry with several, world class flagship projects,” says Vorster.

There are, however, significant challenges ahead. The process of improving rail, road and air transport infra-structure and, more crucially, co-ordinating their func-tions, also presents the biggest challenge to government and organisers.

The plan is centred on a €1.5billion public transport infrastructure upgrade, covering key roads in host cities and those linking airports to city centres. In addition there is a national transport plan that includes a €200m expansion plan by Metrorail for commuter projects.

The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) is spend-

Climate Change



onm and solutions for, climate change


South Africa

South Africa’s Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) deployment drive gets a welcome boost from the FIFA World Cup 2010 planning, as DR PAUL VORSTER explains to KEVIN BORRAS

“The local ITS industry has grown into a multi-billion Euro industry with several, world class fl agship projects”


South Africa

Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways14

ing €2.5 billion on upgrades to airport terminals. The SA National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has

embarked on a major network renewal and upgrade programme and is expected to invest €7 billion in the roads network, with several projects already underway. The SANRAL invitation for companies to pre-qualify for its multi-billion Open Road Tolling tender has gener-ated widespread international attention.

Extra time required...Several of the transport projects are well behind the timetable set by government, which scheduled Decem-ber 2008 as the deadline for most of the transport infra-structure to be completed; 2009 was then to be used for “dry runs”.

Most parts of the transport plan, from O R Tambo Air-port’s refurbishment to long distance, inter-city travel coaches, will now only come on stream late next year or early 2010. Acsa should be ready by 2010 with most of the refurbishment at O R Tambo and Cape Town Interna-tional set for completion a few months ahead of the opening match in June 2010.

In a recent interview Skhumbuzo Macozoma, the SA Local Organising Committee’s chief officer for transport

and logistics, acknowledged the risk, but is also confi-dent that the plan will be ready in time. This optimism is not widely shared, particularly since the host cities do not have adequate existing public transport systems.

Action stationsOne of the most exciting, yet challenging, new develop-ments is the bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Six cities - Johannesburg, Tshwane, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Polokwane - are adopting the system, popularised in South American cities such as Bogota, Colombia.

It relies on clearing lanes in key roads for buses only, building dozens of new bus stations and will depend on cities purchasing thousands of new buses in time for the World Cup. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Johannesburg is the furthest ahead, ready to order 1,200 buses at a cost of €200m and is also the farthest advanced in terms of establishing trunk roads. The city says the first phase covers 122km of bus routes and 150 stations will be ready by 2010.

Cape Town appears to be next in line to implement the system, with plans for a 38km route between the airport and city centre, as well as a further 20km to cover the

“The host cities do not have adequate

existing public transport systems”

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www.thinkinghighways.comVol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways16

The ITS industry in South Africa has grown into a multi-billion Rand industry with several mega projects underway. One such mega project is theOpen Road Tolling project as part of the Gauteng Freeway mprovement Project (GFIP).

Some of the companies that are working to meet the pre-qualification criteria set by the SA National Roads Agency (SANRAL) may want to access local and international companies as possible collaborators, service providers or suppliers.

As industry representative body the Intelligent Transport Society South Africa introduced the ITSSA e-Marketplace supplier and service provider database to assist potential bidders to source a supporting network.

CategoriesThe categories below are aimed specifically at supporting the ORT pre-qualification process. General ITS categories will be added in phase 2 of the ITSSA e-Marketplace.

ITS South Africa’s e-Marketplace * Operations and back office * Systems and IT * Road-side equipment * Violations processing * Telecommunication

ITS South Africa hosts the e-Marketplace as a service to the ITS Industry. Listing on the database is free.

To bring your company to the attention of prospective bidders working to meet SANRAL’s pre-qualification criteria, use this opportunity to list your products or service on the ITS South Africa e-Marketplace.

ITS South Africa will offer advertising opportunities on e-Marketplace should you wish to have a higher profile.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please visit www.itssa.org or email ITS South Africa’s CEO, Dr Paul Vorster, at [email protected]

South Africa

southern suburbs by 2010. Dedicated bus lanes on the N2 between Cape Town International Airport and the central business district (CBD) are part of the plan, which will cost €200m.

Tshwane, on the other hand, is playing catch-up. Its BRT project has been two years in planning but has suf-fered because of difficulties in sourcing expertise and skills. The city is now engaged in a “recovery plan” with the national treasury and the Provincial Government.

The city’s BRT system will cover 67km, with a key line running from Mabopane to the Pretoria CBD and a sec-ond line, to be prioritised for 2010, to run from the CBD via the stadium to Mamelodi. Costs for the routes and 240 buses are estimated at €200m.

Durban is not planning to have a BRT project but will use a mix of rail, bus and an “inner-city circulatory” sys-tem based on taxis.

By 2010 the role of Gautrain, Gauteng’s light rail project covered by Vorster in his Thinking Highways columns, will be limited to getting overseas visitors from O R Tambo Airport to Sandton. The links between Sandton and the Johannesburg and Pretoria CBDs will be com-pleted only after the World Cup, as per the concession agreement.

Says Vorster: “Most of these transport projects include significant ITS deployment ranging from integrated ticketing systems, CCTV and security systems, traveler and passenger information systems, while the Open Road Tolling deployment will speed up a new paradigm where ITS is seen as integral to the transport network.”

In football terminology, South Africa is psyching itself up in the dressing room, preparing for the big kick off. Fingers crossed it will manage to hold its nerve and per-form on the big stage. TH

Dr Paul Vorster is CEO of ITS South Africa. He can be contacted via email at [email protected]

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Stunted growth

The Thinker


The strange case of the three-legged stool

The public sector, the private sector and the universities are the triumverate of essential but often disparate ingredients in the transport community mix - but isn’t it time that we all just got along? PHIL TARNOFF thinks it is

Climate Change





The Thinker

Public employees are lazy and unimaginative. Pri-vate sector employees actions are based exclusively on the almighty dollar and university faculties ignore project objectives and schedules when con-ducting research.

These insulting perceptions are neither accurate nor fair. But they are repeated here as an indication of the degree of misunderstanding that exists among the three major sectors of the transportation community; public, private and university.

These statements ignore the fact that the great major-ity of employees within all sectors of the transportation industry work hard to achieve their common goal of improving the system within the constraints of their cho-sen area of employment. It is unfortunate that these opinions exist when there has never been a greater need for cooperation and collaboration within an indus-try that is undergoing major changes that include:

• Privatization: The public sector is relying on the private sector to an increasing extent for provision of services including design, construction, operations and management. Without an appreciation of both the capa-bilities and limitations of the private sector, the move toward privatization will not succeed. In addition, the public sector must also develop an appreciation of the ways in which its pro-curement practices influence private sector performance.

• Workforce development: There is a shortage of professionals trained to meet the needs of the public and private sectors. The university community which is the obvious source of supply falls short of providing both the quantity and qual-ity of needed graduates. An understanding of the moti-vations and priorities of this sector of the transportation industry is important if the shortage is to be corrected.

• Technology: Technology is rapidly advancing, which creates challenges for all sectors of the transpor-tation community, all of whom would benefit from its application. An understanding of their mutual capabili-ties and motivations is needed to ensure that the indus-try takes advantage of new technologies as they become available.

A little bit of backstoryFor these reasons, it is important to improve the relation-ships among the various sectors of the transportation community. The manner in which this might be accom-plished requires an intimate knowledge of their charac-teristics and capabilities.

Viewing my transportation career of nearly 40 years, one would conclude that I have been unable to hold a job; having been a public sector employee while work-ing for the Federal Highway Administration, a private sector employee while working for Alan M. Voorhees and Associates as well as PB Farradyne, and most recently a university employee while working for the University of Maryland.

While at the University of Maryland, I have also enjoyed a close working relationship with the Maryland Depart-

ment of Transportation. This breadth of experience qualifies me (or at least I think it does) to reflect on the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the three sectors of the transportation community, including their cultures and their assets and to suggest ways in which these characteristics can be leveraged in a way that strengthens the overall industry.

Sector characteristicsFew, if any, individuals enter the transportation engi-neering field with the objective of becoming multi-millionaires. Instead, like most technical professions, newcomers enter the field with the vague notion of a career that offers a reliable (comfortable) income, work-ing on interesting projects that might produce societal benefits. Although the balance of monetary rewards, interesting work and societal benefits shifts somewhat among possible transportation career paths, most of its participants are motivated by some combination of the three.

It should be noted that the following discussion of industry sectors emphasizes organizations responsible for infrastructure development and operation. Many major sectors such as vehicle manufacturers, transit

operators and commercial vehicle operators have been excluded to pro-vide focus for the following discussion.

Public sectorThe public sector includes many types of organizations; the Federal Govern-ment, state and local agencies, metro-politan planning organizations, etc. In spite of their differences, they share a

number of attributes, including job security, good fringe benefits and reasonable (although deteriorating) retire-ment benefits.

Public sector salaries are generally lower than those of either the private or university sectors. With some notable exceptions, the pressures of public sector employment are relatively modest, due at least in part to the job security it offers. Public sector employment fos-ters an environment in which the penalties for failure exceed the rewards for success, with the result that many, (certainly not all) public sector employees have a low tolerance for the risks associated with creativity.

The common denominator among the majority of public sector employees is the feeling that they are the “keepers of the public good”. In other words, since they are not influenced by the profit motive, their actions are oriented toward public service rather than avarice or personal advancement. Many have indicated that they selected the public sector career path out of a desire to contribute to the public’s welfare, and because of the ability to establish public policy – an opportunity that is not available to those in other sectors.

Advancement in the public sector is based on keep-ing the “ship of state” sailing in untroubled waters. Rewards accrue to those who effectively perform the duties they are assigned without creating problems for their superiors.

“Few enter transportation

engineering with the objective of becoming multi-

millionaires”


Private sector Private sector employment can be characterized by relatively low job security, modest fringe benefits, and long working hours. Offsetting benefits include highersalaries, and perhaps most important, the ability to cre-ate (software, reports, ideas, products, infrastructure) rather than to oversee its creation. Thus the greatest dif-ference between public and private sectors is the pub-lic sector’s responsibility for establishing policies and programs versus the private sector’s responsibility for implementing programs and systems.

The private sector is far from homogenous. The pri-vate sector includes consultants, manufacturers, and contractors, each of which offers a unique set of charac-teristics. To a certain degree, the cultures of these three constituents have been influenced by public sector pol-icies. One of the most obvious areas in which this has occurred is the bid and proposal process by which firms are selected to perform work.

Consultants are typically chosen using a “best value” process in which their selection is based on the quality of their proposals and the experience of their staff with-out evaluation of price. Contractors and suppliers are selected purely on a low-bid basis, in which a bid price is offered based on a set of technical specifica-tions developed by the public agency. Thus, consultants tend to emphasize project delivery in a manner that meets or exceeds clients’ requirements, while contractors and suppliers tend to emphasize economic delivery of projects that meet but do not exceed the specifications.

A common trait of the private sector contractors and consultants is their total reliance on their project managers. Within these organ-izations, the project manager is king, having been assigned responsibility for managing all aspects of a project including technical quality, client satisfaction, budget and schedule.

The health of the parent organization depends com-pletely upon the effectiveness of its project managers. Unfortunately, most project management experience is derived from on-the-job-training as opposed to formal education (although this is changing). Advancement in the private sector depends on successful project or product delivery. It is readily evaluated using financial measures – profit, growth, sales, etc.

University communityThe transportation community requires a steady infu-sion of educated and trained (the two are different) per-sonnel. Education is generally considered a formal long-term instruction related to the fundamentals of a technology. Education is provided by vocational schools and universities. Training is considered the delivery of short-term instruction related to a specific job require-ment. Training may be provided by vocational schools, but is also available from sources such as the Federal Highway Administration’s National Highway Institute,

The Thinker


the on-line courses from the Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE), and the University of Maryland’s Operations Academy.

The university system is the primary source of the needed education, and in turn a major supplier of entry level employees for the transportation industry. In this role, the educational system should, ideally be one that is agile (instruction is adjusted to changing environ-ment, technologies and priorities) and responsive (rec-ognizing the needs of the customer). The system should also be one in which education is given a higher priority than research. Unfortunately few, if any, US universities exhibit these characteristics.

Organizationally, the university management struc-ture is the “flattest” of the three sectors being discussed. The system provides tenured faculty with a high degree of independence to pursue the research and interact with students in the manner of their choosing. Faculty evaluations assign priority to the number of refereed research papers that have been published rather than their success at educating students.

To a significant degree, departmental performance is evaluated based on the number of doc-toral graduates that have received teaching positions at other prestigious universities. As a result, tenured mem-bers of the faculty tend to prioritize research over education and produc-tion of PhD candidates over those with undergraduate or masters degrees. The ability of the university system to respond to the needs of the transporta-tion profession is further hampered by cumbersome requirements for curric-ulum changes.

The introduction of new courses is typically a time-consuming process requiring review and approval by multiple levels of university adminis-tration. Faculty members who might already be reluc-tant to propose the addition of new courses to a curriculum due to the effort associated with their devel-opment, are further discouraged by these bureaucratic processes. However, this does not preclude the inclu-sion of new or updated subject matter in existing courses, which is a decision that can be made by indi-vidual faculty members.

As a result, the educational process has become one in which the universities teach the unchanging underly-ing fundamentals of the profession. In the case of trans-portation, these might include courses such as traffic flow theory, governmental structure, operations research, simulation techniques etc. Providing more specialized aspects of the education is a responsibility that has been assumed by organizations involved in training.

Inter-sector perceptionsSo how can the transportation field be improved by developing constructive relationships that will leverage the capabilities of its participants? The following five point program is suggested:

“The educational process has become

one in which the universities teach the unchanging

underlying fundamentals of the profession”

1) Develop the equivalent of a one year sabbatical program in which employees from one sector work as employees of another sector. Think of the benefits to the university system from the participation of individuals from either the public or private sectors who, as adjunct professors, student advisors and researchers, work on material that is relevant to the needs of their respective sectors. Think of the benefits to the public sector from the participation of private sector individuals who can provide useful financial and technical insights into the project planning process.

2) With the assistance of trade associations such as AASHTO and ITE, define workforce skills needed by the public and private sectors. Work with academia to adopt their education toward the needs that have been identi-fied. Support the development of “transition” training that builds on the basics offered in the current curricula.

3) Address the current misunderstanding of private and public sector finances by offering shortcourses to public sector employees. The need for such training was highlighted in a recent exchange with a public sec-tor manager who was planning a public-private part-nership. The manager indicated that he did not understand or care about “how the private sector made money”, but was defining the project requirements in a manner that met the needs of his agency. The result of this activity was a multi-million dollar project that failed financially in less than five years.

4) Include private sector and university personnel in

The Thinker

public sector planning initiatives. Planning at all levels (strategic, operational, project, etc.) is currently a responsibility of the public sector. The planning proc-ess would benefit from the insights of the private and university sectors, which may include a broader knowl-edge of similar developments throughout the US (or the world), as well as their ability to provide more accurate cost and schedule estimates of the activities being planned. Broader representation in the planning proc-ess might also increase the success rate of public-private partnerships.

5) Critically review the procurement process as it is applied to projects and programs. There is a tendency within public agencies to take the path of least resist-ance – i.e. do things the way in which they’ve been done in the past. Examination of procurement alternatives from the perspective of ensuring desirable perform-ance on the part of the proposers (or bidders) can often produce beneficial results. Procurement alternatives exist in most agencies. For example; design-build versus low bid, systems manager versus consultant, public-private partnership versus contractor, etc.

Summing up succinctlyThese five points offer the potential to minimize friction among the various sectors of the transportation industry, leading to a healthy and efficient industry capable of responding effectively to future demands for service. TH

[email protected]

www.tamron-europe.com [email protected]


Stunted growth

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Climate Change




Consultants


Great minds...THINKING HIGHWAYS presents a comprehensive guide to international transport consulting. Over the next seven pages three consultants discuss how to deal with authorities on local, national and international levels in Asia-Pacific, South Africa and Europe

First, GETHIN PERRY, Principal ITS Consultant at Maunsell AECOM in Sydney, Australia looks at consulting in the Asia-Pacific region

Being part of a global organisation of over 40,000 professionals and growing provides us at AECOM with an interesting insight in to the maturity of the advanced transportation management and ITS sector around the world.

Our regular global co-ordination sessions help us to understand the different position, needs of each market and to develop strategies that support the varying needs of our clients. A recent discussion on moving away from the term ITS to emphasising the goals and objectives of advanced transportation and network operations man-agement was supported by Europe and Australia but was judged inappropriate for North America.

For us this reflects the relative maturity of the industry


Consultants


in each market, and the position of each in the policy-strategy-research-deploy-operate life cycle.

Across AECOM we share a common vision of improv-ing the operation and management of our transport networks through the application of advanced transpor-tation management techniques, but our approach and skills offered in each market responds to the demands and maturity of that market.

In the mature North America our focus is on the deploy-ment and implementation of systems; in an arguably less mature European market our focus is on develop-ing operational and business solutions; whilst in the immature Australian market we are providing thought leadership and long-term vision whilst moving towards developing operational and business solutions.

Far and wideThis is not to suggest that each market operates solely in one area, North America is investing huge sums in research and Europe has a large base of installed sys-tems and comprehensive deployment programme with advances of global significance. Whilst in Australia there is a gap between legacy investments in urban traffic control systems (SCATS, etc) and traffic management centres in the capital cities and an immature policy envi-ronment that is not setting the agenda for the applica-tion and exploitation of advanced transportation management techniques.

The personal and organisation knowledge that exists within the Australian states roads authorities is exten-sive. Consequently they have the skills required to deploy traffic management systems, even to the extent that they have the resources to design, develop, manu-facture and install their own hardware.

This can often put them in the interesting position of competing against the private sector for their own con-tracts. However, what the authorities themselves and the transport ministries to which they report are telling us is that they lack a comprehensive understanding of the advanced transportation management options availa-ble to them, the benefits that they could realise, and the strategy to bring them forward.

Consequently, the approach that we are adopting in Australia is two fold and focuses on providing thought leadership derived from the international experience of our local team and international colleagues: top down promotion and agenda setting with transport ministers; and bottom up development of strategies and visions with the leaders of the transport authorities.

The first challenge is to get advanced transportation management techniques on to the agenda of govern-ment and decision makers. In recent years Australia has been in period of infrastructure expansion, building the motorways (usually tolled PPP) and expressways needed to support a sustained economic expansion. However, there is a growing realisation that physical infrastructure is not the only solution and may not be the optimal solution.

Continued congestion, particularly in CBDs, increas-ing fuel prices and a growing concern about the envi-ronment are changing the political landscape.

MultilinguisticsThrough an ability to speak the same language as the decision makers we have begun to set the scene for the development of the policies and strategies that can be delivered through advanced transportation management.

In particular Philip Davies, our Director of Transport Planning and Advisory (Australia, New Zealand, and Asia) and formerly Director of Traffic Operations at Transport for London, has the crucial background of developing and implementing similar strategies in one of the most challenging political and urban environ-ments in the world.

The position of our clients and markets presents inter-esting challenges and frequently requires us to work across borders to; identify best practice; learn lessons; outline benefits; and adapt ideas to local requirements rather than simply transplant them.

Some examples of where we have done this include:• Council of Australian Governments, Standing

Committee of Transport, Urban Congestion Manage-ment Working Group – developed an evaluation frame-work in order to identify successful, applicable and cost-effective new technologies and road management practices that address congestion on urban arterials;

• Victorian Department of Infrastructure – identi-fied and investigated policy options to change transport usage and behaviour and reduce transport energy use;

• VicRoads – identifying how existing operational initiatives contribute to high level government conges-tion and traffic management strategies and develop a vision and framework for aligning traffic operations with the strategies.

Mix and matchOn these and other projects where we are working at a more operational level to plan, procure and implement systems we seamlessly blend the right mix of skills and experience from: local professionals with an in-depth appreciation of our client’s business; locally based pro-fessionals with international experience of planning and implementing advanced transportation manage-ment; and the international pool of experts from our European and American businesses. In developing our approach to the challenges we aim to do the following:

• Demonstrate a detailed understanding of our client’s business;

• Clearly and accurately define the issues that our client faces;

• Identify solutions to those issues;• Adapt international experience to the local

environment; and• Develop an implementation framework. We perceive that the field of advanced transportation

management is at the threshold of significant expansion in Australia and New Zealand. The work that we are doing now is assisting our clients to set the scene for that expansion, and positioning them to make the most appropriate and efficient investments to intelligently deliver the improvements to transport that support pub-lic mobility and the economy. TH

25www.thinkinghighways.com

Consultants

Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3


Consultants



Consultants

ANDREW PICKFORD works all over the world and has consulted for multinational organisations. Here though, he focuses on his work in South Africa

In the run-up to the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa is now in the transport limelight.

It has the challenge of developing its attractiveness as a safe haven for foreign direct investment whilst devel-oping its own regionally and internationally competi-tive industries and empowering home grown engineers and managers to fill the skills shortage that the country currently faces. International rates are not affordable by most government institutions and procurement rules make it difficult to justify employing international exper-tise. This balancing act is reflected in the procurement practises for professional engineers and management consultants to work client side in large integrated pub-lic works programmes – on roads, rail, ports and airports infrastructure.

South Africa has shown its ability to innovate through design in many engineering sectors, in particular the emerging ITS industry has benefited from technologies that had their roots in the country’s defence industry. Amongst many examples, pioneering location-based applications are underpinned by best-in-class GIS sys-tems and comprehensive digital mapping. The wireless communications industry is competitive and in many parts of SA provides essential services where it would take too long to install fixed lines. South Africa is also undergoing EMV migration that will enable e-payment on many transport modes.

Transition and learningIn this transition phase, the norm is to employ small teams within government that selectively procure local and international consultants to bootstrap large pro-curements for services, for example infrastructure development and downstream ITS application. The responsibility for programme management is devolved to a greater degree than in developed countries such as the UK. Consequently, the selection of competent con-tractors to operate its airports or roads (for example) is critical and the use of Service Level Agreements that describe KPIs are then equally important to ensure that delivery quality targets are met throughout the contract duration to preserve risk allocations. Long-term strate-gic planning to ensure best value has never been more important to a country that is often regarded as setting the standard for other developing nations in Africa where, for cultural reasons, planning horizons have been much shorter.

Each of these ambitious projects (there are many more) places an additional burden on national and regional government transportation authorities. This pressure can help drive up the efficiency by which national and local government agencies can meet dead-linesbut which could also increase the risk of pro-

gramme delays and adversely impact the quality of programme management.

South Africa has a strategic need to nurture, upgrade and retain its own competences in systems design and programme management – these ‘soft’ assets are often forgotten when we look at ITS success stories world-wide. Having a high quality fleet of buses does not make a bus service and having high quality roads does not make a transportation system - as many developing countries have found to their cost. Furthermore, the clas-sical model of upgrading a nation’s infrastructure sug-gests that local innovation is best. Simply buying ready-made solutions as templates from other countries or cities will not work. Johannesburg is not London and Cape Town is not Bogotá. Consultants take note.

Early signs, mostly goodThe momentum behind the preparations for 2010 has generated many news stories that show that the country can specify, procure and manage many large scale, competitively tendered projects that meet local needs, in many cases funded and operated by the private sec-tor with accompanying levels of risk as part of in return for operating concessions.

Not all news has been good though – the bold attempts to recapitalise (upgrade) the nation’s fleet of informal taxi services at a cost of R7m (€0.8m) has met resistance although by 2010 should result in about 80 per cent of the fleet being replaced with newer and safer vehicles. In May 2008 the Department of Transport, through the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) awarded the final contract of its R11.9 billion for the ini-tial construction phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improve-ment Project (GFIP) to upgrade and extend the Gauteng highway network – all funded through the issue of gov-ernment-backed bonds. SANRAL intends to procure a related MLFF ETC system with a national back office and operating concession by early 2009.

The implementation of Bus Rapid Transit in Johannes-burg, the rapidly developing Gautrain link to the OR Tambo International Airport and a new airport link pro-posed for Cape Town are all helping to fuel market inter-est that is expected to drive growth in South African professional consulting companies, initially enabled through a mix of local and imported skills.

Facing the long termSo, the current stock of high profile ITS projects provides South Africa with a good opportunity to show that design and programme delivery competence can compete internationally. When the final whistle has blown on the next World Cup the long-term challenge will be to main-tain and develop this further. TH


Consultants


My company, the Ian Catling Consultancy (ICC) has just celebrated 25 years of working in ITS.

I gave up my post at SIA in July 1983 to work on the first Hong Kong Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) Pilot Project, and effectively established the Ian Catling Consultancy then. At the time I was assured that I could return to my ‘proper job’ at the end of the Hong Kong project, but in the end I decided that the new area of what was then called “Road Transport Informatics” (RTI – which is actu-ally the ‘rti’ in the European ITS coordination organisa-tion ERTICO) offered exciting and challenging opportunities for an independent consultancy.

At its peak, ICC employed about 10 people, but I have preferred to work with an even smaller core team and use a network of other independent expert consultants who can be available often at short notice and who are prepared to work hard (as well as being, hopefully, quite bright, hard work is, I think, one of the key requirements for anyone considering setting up on their own).

For many years my right-hand man was Richard Har-ris, well-known to many readers as a leading light in ITS at WSP, and Overseas Director for ITS UK (not to mention a fairly regular contributor to Thinking Highways).

Something to get our teeth intoAt the end of the 1980s the European Commission was putting together the ‘DRIVE’ research programme: ICC helped to develop the programme, and during the 1990s we led and coordi-nated some of the key projects which sowed the seeds for what are now (at last!) real products and services.

Navigation is perhaps the most obvi-ous of these in the mass market, but the other main area in which ICC has remained involved is electronic charging, where there is arguably a glimmer of light for the achievement of what the interoperability directive calls the ‘European Electronic Toll Service’ (EETS).

Working with the Commission is rather more con-strained these days than it was then. Despite the Com-mission’s well-stated aims to encourage SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) to participate in Euro-pean projects, I find it now almost impossible for a small company like ICC to put together the type of consortium which will win through what are usually very competi-tive bidding processes.

This is partly because most of the big consultancy companies now have their own ITS expertise and teams, but also because the funding process is much more dif-ficult now. One of our main projects over the last couple

of years has been RCI (Road Charging Interoperability), in which ICC is a partner.

While the Commission still retains the concept of an ‘advance payment’ (it always was conceptual rather than actual, because it usually arrived when you were about six months into the project), you now are required to provide a bank guarantee which, for a small firm like ours, effectively means that in order to receive the advance payment you must tie up that amount of money in hock to the bank, so there’s really no point in having it.

Given the long lead times for these projects, we had actually been working for nearly three years before we received a single penny (or euro-cent). Of course we don’t work in these projects just for the money – but it would help if it wasn’t quite so difficult to get!

An uneven playing field?Lots of our work has also been with the UK Government, especially with the Department of Transport (or any of the five or six other names that it’s had in the last couple of decades). I think the Government has always ‘played

strictly by the rules’ but, as with the Commission, it’s become both more competitive and harder to get con-tracts as a small firm.

In fact the way in is often to be part-nered with one or more of the larger firms who are able to bid for frame-work contracts. But just being part of a successful framework team doesn’t actually guarantee you any work!

When ITS was finding its feet at the end of the 1980s and start of the 1990s, there was a small number of specialist consultancies who were able to offer

relatively rare expertise and experience in ITS. Now ITS is a much bigger area and includes many multi-million dollar enterprises.

There is still a role for the small specialist consultancy, but we are now much smaller fishes in a much bigger ocean. TH

Gethin Perry is Principal ITS Consultant at Maunsell AECOM in Sydney, Australia and can be contacted at

[email protected]

Ian Catling is Principal of Ian Catling Consultancy in Chipstead, UK and can be contacted at [email protected]

Andrew Pickford is Principal of Transport Technology Consultants based in Cambridge, UK and can be

contacted at [email protected]

“In order to receive the advance

payment you must tie up that amount of money in hock to the bank, so there’s really no point in

having it”

IAN CATLING explains the benefits and potential pitfalls of working for the European Commission (and in the UK) as a small consultancy


Consultants


Stunted growth

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Percy Shaw giving the world the reflecting road marking stud, to which of course he gave the legendary name, ‘Cats-Eye’. Now the story is moving on to an exciting new chapter and two other British entrepreneurs, Martin Dicks and John Madejski, have taken the concept a step further, as STEPHEN SLATER reports.

Automated Transport


A brave new world?Many urban planning issues, including the separa-tion of working and living, out-of-town develop-ments and urban sprawl have led to a strong private car dependency in urban areas, which in turn have led to the degradation of urban environments through congestion, parked cars, community sever-ance, noise and pollution and to social exclusion.

The issue of social exclusion will become even more important with the increasing ageing of society. Various improvements to the quality and concept of public trans-port have helped address some of these issues, but many real or perceived disadvantages of public trans-port often still leave the private car as the preferred mode. Therefore without any major restrictions to pri-vate car use (e.g. due to policy measures, or as response to natural disasters) only a step change in the provision of public transport will be able to change this situation.

A step change in public transportOne option to radically improve public transport that has been suggested is the introduction of automated transport systems (ATS), which have the potential to combine most of the advantages of private cars (e.g. flexibility, convenience, and comfort) with the advan-tages of conventional public transport (e.g. sustainabil-ity, environmental impacts, and cost), but at the same time being able to avoid most of their disadvantages.

ATS have the potentials of using the existing road net-work and allowing interaction with other users (i.e. con-

ventional manually driven vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians), and therefore do not require any costly rail infrastructure. System design and implementation for this is based on recent advances in sensor and infor-mation processing technologies, including vehicle guidance, vision systems and obstacle detection and avoidance.

Potential of (and for) automated transportThe system will not require extensive parking spaces and can operate very quietly and without generating pollutants at the point of operation using electric engines. Through traffic management and platooning technology (vehicle following at minimum distance), congestion will be decreased because of a higher capacity of the existing road network. Furthermore, automated vehicle control will also result in reduced emissions and increased traffic safety, making ATS a more sustainable mode of urban transport.

On a small scale some targeted ATS applications with road capabilities, e.g. the ParkingHopper (in operation 1997-2002) on the long-stay car park at Shiphol Airport in Amsterdam or the ParkShuttle (in operation since 1998) at the Rivium business park near Rotterdam, have proven their ability to operate safely and efficiently in a contained environment with some interaction with pedestrians and other conventional vehicles. A similar system is also currently being implemented at London’s Heathrow airport.

Climate Change





Automated Transport

Almost 50 years since R&D work on vehicle automation began, concepts, acronyms, and research programs have come and gone, but thanks to recent advances in information processing, sensors and communication technologies we could, at last, soon see widespread implementation of this technology. TOM VOGE looks at the historical developments, current trends and future outlook of automated vehicles


Furthermore, a series of EC-funded projects (Cyber-Cars, CyberMove, NetMobil, CyberCars2, CityMobil, CityNetMobil, and Niches+) have addressed the issue of ATS and have provided continuous funding in this area over the last eight years and the funding is set to continue. The aim of these projects is to help move ATS from the current small scale niche applications into the public transport mainstream. EC-funded research on ATS, particularly the CityMobil project was covered in the last issue of Thinking Highways.

This article will look back at earlier attempts at intro-duction of vehicle automation, focussing on the personal rapid transit (PRT) concept in the 1960s/ 1970s and the automated highway system (AHS) in the 1980s/ 1990s as major examples, describe achievements and setbacks, and illustrate the lessons learned from this. Based on this the implication for ATS will be analysed and recom-mendations for future development of automated vehi-cles will be developed.

PERSONAL RAPID TRANSITAn early example of a radical idea to provide more sus-tainable urban mobility was the personal rapid transit (PRT) concept in the 1960s/ 1970s. In this period of time the US government provided huge funding for the PRT concept, and following the enthusiasm of the successful Moon Landing Program, President Nixon said in his budget speech to the Congress in 1972 “If we can send 3 men to the moon 200,000 miles away, we should be able to move 200,000 people to work 3 miles away.”

But history proved the introduction of PRT to be more problematic, with only few small-scale niche applica-tions implemented. The main barriers to the wide-spread introduction of PRT were the lack of maturity of the technology involved, the need to radically reshape urban environments (e.g. visual intrusion through ele-vated tracks, and the vision of PRT not complementing but replacing the convention multi-modal public trans-port system in urban areas.

System characteristicsThe main concept of PRT is to provide individual on-demand transport through a system of small vehicles on a network of monorails. PRT is primarily an automated, low polluting, demand-responsive form of transport. The first PRT initiatives were in the mid-seventies, moti-vated mainly by the sharp increase in oil price and the sudden necessity for solutions with existing technology. The striking visual feature of PRT is the ele-vated guide-way. Cabs may ride on top of this guide-way or be suspended from it. To maintain minimum headways, stations are off-line and merging is control-led by the system. One early example of the PRT is that in Morgantown, USA, connecting various parts of the University of West Virginia campus with the central busi-ness district. It began operating in 1975 and has carried 50 million people without incident.

Operating environmentThe use of PRT (at least theoretically, as it was never real-ised on this scale) was envisaged to provide a new and

Automated Transport


improved form of public transport to replace (rather than complement) the existing combined multi-modal public transport and private car system for personal mobility in urban areas. But the general concept was also suitable for smaller sites and due to the cut in fund-ing (and loss of enthusiasm) for this technology before implementing large scale systems, the few working sys-tems were limited to these environments.

Smaller sites (as opposed to implementation of a city-wide system) include e.g. university campuses (like the Morgantown system), large factories or company cam-puses, exhibition centres, theme parks, or airports. Air-ports seem particularly well suited for the use of innovative technologies, with use of automated vehicles e.g. at Shiphol and Heathrow airport and widespread implementation of fully automated people movers at airports throughout the world.

Performance and findingsThe PRT concept was very ambitious at the time in terms of technologies required as well as the scope envisaged for it. The few systems that were developed beyond the stage of a desk based study were successful and e.g. the Morgantown system is still in operation. But arguably a citywide system would have exceeded the technology

Automated Transport

34

“Martin Dicks is recognised as a true

visionary in the vital field of road safety”

levels of the time in terms of computing power and speeds for vehicle control and scheduling.

Another major drawback of this technology (and one that, unlike the technology issue, is still valid today - probably more valid now than at the time) is the visual intrusion of the elevated rail infrastructure in urban areas. Elevated urban motorways are still a visible leg-acy of the urban design philosophy of the time, but this is now widely accepted as being unsuitable.

AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMResearch in the area of automated highway systems has been lead by the PATH consortium in California since the late 1980s/early 1990s, which has undertaken some of the most high profile work in vehicle to vehicle com-munications at the time. The program was dedicated to the construction and test of a range of cooperative pro-totypes and organised a large demonstration of differ-ent vehicle platforms and communication technologies. Despite a large technical and public relations success of the demonstration, the NAHSC project was not contin-ued, with research since focusing on particular niche applications such as snow plough control and automated buses. Since then several high profile demonstrations have been undertaken, including events showcasing developments in Japanese research programs.

System characteristicsAHS assumes a system where vehicles are electroni-cally linked, allowing the formation of closely packed groups of vehicles or ‘platoons’. The speed, accelera-tion, and inter-vehicle separation of each vehicle is measured on-board, and then transmitted to neighbour-ing vehicles and/ or to roadside infrastructure. With the increased accuracy and reliability of data obtained, it is possible to automate vehicle throttle and brakes to achieve much closer following distances to form so-called ‘road trains’ where vehicles in theory may have spacing down to the meter level.

While a number of vehicles may form a platoon, indi-vidual platoons are separated from each other by a larger spacing in the order of 50-100m. In order for such a system to function at full efficiency however, control must be performed flawlessly, with the driver therefore entirely removed from controlling the vehicle. Similarly, in order to allow for full predictability of vehicle move-ments, vehicles must operate in a dedicated right of way, ideally in their own lanes, barrier separated from non-equipped vehicles.

Operating environmentAs mentioned above, a full AHS requires the vehicles to operate in dedicated lanes, with dedicated entry and exit facilities in order to ensure that equipped and non-equipped vehicles may be separated and subsequently ‘re-mixed’ with minimum risk and disruption to flow.

Although the AHS technology is applicable to both lorries and cars current implementation strategies assumes platoons of a single vehicle type. An additional safety restriction imposed is that ideally all vehicles would pass some manner of ‘certification’/health check

Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways www.thinkinghighways.com

“Most PRT applications are

confined to small-scale systems

implemented on private sites”

35www.thinkinghighways.com

before entering the system to ensure the vehicle is able to respond accurately and quickly to external vehicle dynamics commands.

Performance and findingsCooperative/AHS systems have always been associated with the provision of significantly higher capacity increases (typically estimated as being >300 per cent). Most studies for these systems have been undertaken by PATH using the SmartAHS simulation tool, designed to be able to incorporate a wide range of sensor, com-munication, control policy and human driver models into an integrated simulation environment.

Additionally, through microscopic modelling, it is pos-sible to consider the effect that such convoy systems may have on emissions, and with the elimination of stop-and-go driving, it is clear that savings and decreases in fuel consumption will become apparent. For equipped vehicles it is estimated that this may be in the order of 10 per cent, with reductions in Hydrocarbon and NOX emissions of 48 per cent and 37 per cent respectively, having been calculated.

Summary and conclusionIt has been almost 50 years since work on the concept of vehicle automation began. A variety of different con-cepts and technologies have been developed (with varying degrees of success). Two major examples of

Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

Automated Transport

when compared to manual opera-tion, and the system providing con-venient user-friendly transport using an innovative and high-profile technology, which can address the generally low perception of public transport. But despite these benefits most applications are so far confined to small-scale systems implemented on private sites (e.g. in airports,

theme parks, etc.). Early examples of vehicle automation can now per-

haps be seen as overly ambitious and using fairly crude technologies. More recent systems have been more sophisticated, nevertheless implementation has been limited so far. R&D work (as well as the necessary fund-ing) is continuing, and a number of major demonstra-tions are planned. Lessons to be learned are that the right application areas have to be defined, that it has to be proven that the technology works, is safe, and is eco-nomically viable, that strategies have to be developed to address various implementation barriers, and that the market has to be well informed (maybe even edu-cated) in order to facilitate acceptance of a (still) very innovative concept such as vehicle automation. TH

Dr. Tom Voge is Senior Consultant with Transport & Mobility Leuven, based in Belgium.

Contact him via email at [email protected]


“Work is continuing on cooperative

vehicle/infrastructure systems through the

EC-funded COOPERS and CVIS projects”

these systems and technologies, per-sonal rapid transit and automated highway systems, have been described here. Although both con-cepts have not been realised on a large scale and/or as a permanent implementation, lessons can be learned. And these lessons in turn have implications for the current con-cepts of vehicle automation as well as for future developments.

There are a number of clear benefits of the AHS sys-tem, including largely increased motorway capacity, safety improvements due to reductions in accidents, and decrease in emissions through smoother vehicle operation and elimination of stop-and-go driving. But despite these benefits no applications have been imple-mented yet, and funding for large scale trials has been cancelled. But more recently work is continuing on cooperative vehicle highway/infrastructure systems, e.g. through the EC-funded COOPERS and CVHS projects.

There are also various advantages of the PRT system, including flexibility, large savings in staff costs com-pared to a manually operated shuttle due to the fully automated system operation, improved traffic safety


Stunted growth

Traffic Management


Freeflow is a pioneering initiative aimed at developing tools for managing and optimising road networks and,

at the same time, informing and guiding travellers. Getting information to travellers is not a new concept but, as PAUL

GLOVER, ANDY GRAHAM and ANDY ROOKE explain, it has yet to be fully integrated as a tool traffic managers can exploit...

Climate Change





Traffic Management

Flow diagram

FREEFLOW is a revolutionary initiative aiming to develop new tools for managing and optimising road networks and, at the same time, informing and guiding travellers. Using information to guide travellers is of course not new, but it has yet to be fully integrated as a tool traffic managers can exploit, rather than a separate add on.

FREEFLOW brings new thinking about how best to meet institutional requirements such as the Traffic Management Act in the United Kingdom, as well as other policies for cities and towns worldwide. A key aim of FREEFLOW is to make the most of traffic data already being collected and then to exploit new types of data. Existing techniques are not always using this resource to manage the whole network proactively, as

often there is too much data and not enough “intelligence”.

FREEFLOW aims to develop ‘situational awareness’ and ’intelligent decision support’ tools to help traffic managers make more informed choices about how to deal with real-time and anticipated transport problems. By actively sharing this awareness with travellers using new services such as personal navigation and in-vehicle systems, FREEFLOW will give a powerful new tool to manage transport through influencing demand from travellers directly as well as managing the net-works they use. Situational awareness is not just a trans-port problem: telecommunications, the military and global finance companies already use new tools to build better awareness of situations and predictive capabili-


ties from their data and make valuable and informed decisions from it. FREEFLOW is part of the UK Govern-ment’s Future Intelligent Transport Services (FITS) Pro-gramme. The project was one of three winners of a competition for UK government funding. Over the next three years, FREEFLOW’s team of industry experts, aca-demic researchers and transport network operators will be changing travel, by turning traffic data into transport intelligence.

FREEFLOW comprises Transport for London, Kent County Council and City of York Council, as demonstra-tor sites. The partners providing the technology and innovation are QinetiQ, Kizoom, Mindsheet, ACIS, Trakm8, Imperial College London, Loughborough Uni-versity and the University of York. The project is man-aged on behalf of TfL by White Willow Consulting with support from FaberMaunsell. The Ian Routledge Con-sultancy is providing technical support to the City of York Council.

The Technology Strategy Board, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the Depart-ment for Transport have contributed £4.1m (€4.8m) towards funding, in addition to the partners’ own contribu-tions. The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led public body estab-lished by government to promote exploitation of technology and innova-tion for the benefit of UK business.

This mix of network operator, indus-try, academic, government transport policy and government business fund-ing is unique. As a result, the project will need to show:

• Products that will both deliver policy benefits to cities and towns (such as reduced congestion) and be commercially competitive,

• Services that have wide enough market appeal to give a return on the investment made,

• Academic research of sufficient novelty; and• Real tools that can be used in real situations.Fulfilling this wide and sometimes contradictory mix

of objectives has required a balancing approach, to ensure that all developments are not simply ‘re-invent-ing the wheel’ or developing products that are already on the shelf.

Hence FREEFLOW’s specific objectives are to:• Understand what traffic managers want from

“intelligent decision support” and how the public can then benefit from better travel information;

• Develop new data from currently under-used sensors like CCTV and from the next generation of in-vehicle floating data;

• Uniquely, bring “situational awareness” tools, such as QinetiQ’s ‘Decision Desktop’, that will utilise not only the data we collect now, but allow for the type of coalition sharing of data that is fundamental to today’s military operations;

• Predict and model future traffic conditions, developing the situational awareness beyond real-time network conditions only; and

Traffic Management


• Understand and solve the technical require-ments for new services that might lever from FREE-FLOW.

FREEFLOW’s approach to meeting these objectives is to understand the core business and user needs for both traffic managers and travellers by delivering the out-comes they desire, rather than simply repeating current techniques. The key to developing new products with value is to ensure we build upon existing investments and standards, such as the UK’s Urban Traffic Manage-ment and Control (UTMC) approach, and European and International Standards like DATEX and NTCIP.

FREEFLOW uses an architecture that allows a “plug and play” approach, so that the products developed in FREEFLOW can be used to meet a wide variety of global user needs. FREEFLOW is not a system, but a connection of many different products that a user can choose to meet local policy needs and easily integrate into their existing infrastructures and services. The FREEFLOW Consortium have adopted this approach by looking at the constraints and opportunities that impact on deploy-

ing smarter travel in the real world – notably that “one size does not fit all”. This approach also allows greater flex-ibility and reduces risk in deploy-ment.

The partners aim to build a set of modular products that they can dem-onstrate in three widely different sites, with different policy needs and net-work topography. The emphasis is on a wide range of demonstrations to show FREEFLOW’s success to both traffic managers and travelling customers.

In the next three years Freeflow will be demon-strated:

• In London’s Park Lane and Hyde Park Corner, to show both active management of one of the city’s busi-est junctions during both day to day conditions and spe-cial events. This demonstration will show the new services aimed at travellers to the area and use new data capture technology such as CCTV processing and GPS data capture from pilot vehicles, designed specifically for network management. FREEFLOW will also inform the development of London’s future SMART systems requirements looking at next generation traffic control needs;

• In York, initially trialled on the A1079 Hull Road Corridor, to demonstrate enhanced bus priority added to the existing UTMC system. Intelligent Decision Sup-port will enable network interventions to change in response to predicted and not just current conditions. As Freeflow develops, pattern matching, vehicle track-ing, state estimation and park and ride information will be implemented alongside the bus priority technology. This will expand along the A1036 Malton Road Corridor and the A19 Fulford Road Corridor, eventually extend-ing to potentially cover the full city. Here the size of the city and its policy objectives contrast well with London, making sure of the applicability of FREEFLOW’s prod-ucts to the wider market; and

“FREEFLOW has provoked

innovative thinking about exchanging

knowledge and developing

collaborative designs”

• In Kent, looking at management of traffic inMaidstone,particularly when there are problems on theadjoining motorway network. Although Maidstone issimilar in many ways to York, the adjacent motorwaynetwork links London with the Channel ports and,whenincidents occur, this can cause significant problems inthe town.Working with the Highways Agency and Med-way Council via their Cordon project, we will show howto actively manage the Urban/Inter Urban interfaceespecially during major incidents.

Most importantly,FREEFLOW has already made plansto evaluate the benefits from these three local demon-strations in terms of:

• the policy outcomes;• the market for products that the project devel-

ops;and• the global applicability of the products beyond

the UK.This focus on flexibility, scalability and open interop-

erability means that the development of architecturesand use of standards has been paramount. Having part-ners from outside mainstream ITS, for example withmilitary and medical sector experience, brings a newset of skills and a fresh approach to new solutions for oldproblems.

In terms of commercial products, Mindsheet, TrakM8and Kizoom are developing direct services to informtravellers, while QinetiQ bring their ‘Decision Desktop’software to allow traffic managers to make quicker deci-sions based on better information.ACIS will build adap-tors to allow the Intelligent Decision Support tools toaccess existing data sources such as bus tracking sys-tems. The University of York and Imperial College willbuild network prediction and pattern recognition soft-ware to develop the Decision Support capability, whileLoughborough University are focusing on developingnew CCTV tools.

With such a wide range of partners from differentbackgrounds, combining to develop existing and pro-posed products in planned test sites; FREEFLOW hasprovoked innovative thinking about how to exchangeknowledge and develop collaborative designs.

We know FREEFLOW sounds like it will make trafficflow freely and be the answer to all traffic problems.Clearly we cannot promise this, so instead we prefer toemphasise the “free” flow of data into information, and“free”flow of intelligence provided by the technology.

FREEFLOW aims to make a revolutionary change intraffic management.This is by both helping traffic man-agers “pull levers” on their networks and by making astep change in the quality and volume of informationmadeavailabletousers”. Throughtheunusualapproachin which the FREEFLOW Consortium is working,we aimto develop a set of tools which will ultimately produce amarketable product for traffic management authoritiesboth in the UK andWorldwide.TH

Paul Glover is FREEFLOW project director and Andy Rooke project manager. They can be contacted via email

at [email protected] Andy Graham is principal of White Willow Consulting

and can be contacted at [email protected]


Traffic Management

Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3 41

“The partners have adopted wiki

technology widely to capture existing information and develop designs”


Stunted growth


As it happens...

Traffic Simulation

Climate Change

In the world of transport modelling, the word “planning” is instinctively associated with static traffic assignment software.

On reflection, the overwhelming majority of traffic simulation software packages are also used offline tosupport planning decisions, although in a more dynamic and detailed way. What happens online during a normal day in any city belongs to the thus far separate realm of traffic operations.

In a traffic control centre simple models are some-times used to complement human expertise. These models typically extrapolate on historical information and in so doing disregard the sort of variations and non-recurring events that make congestion appear at one particular location and not another. If you have arrived late at a meeting after attempting to beat the traffic based on “up-to-date traffic information” then you will know what we mean.

Vision onThe obvious question is why not use simulation online, making it a decision support system for the traffic con-trol centre? The benefits are evident: you can use simu-lation outputs to fill in knowledge gaps in space (in parts of the road network where little is known about the cur-rent traffic flow) and in time (in the future).

A good model can include advanced traffic manage-ment, public and private transport and adaptive signal control leading to a very realistic picture of a city’s traffic operations. You can navigate around the model in 2D and 3D or, more likely, hide the model completely and build complex measures of effectiveness that capture the essence of a scenario in one image and number.

Actually, the usefulness of simulation in this regard is not what’s disputed. Ministries of transport and city councils already know how valuable it would be to route emergency vehicles around congestion to get to an inci-dent site; inform citizens as to the best times to travel; control emissions by creating green corridors where and when needed; implement dynamic and effective congestion pricing; effect a safe emergency evacuation - the list is endless.

What we tend to hear is that “it would be nice to…” implying “sadly it is not yet possible to…”. Yet, this per-ception is now changing, thanks to a number of new technologies and a few pioneer cities/regions that have taken simulation online. The process is exciting and challenging at the same time. “Can the challenges really be met?” is the question we most often hear. The answer is yes - but not without some effort and commitment, we have learnt.

A question of timeThe first challenge (and the first objection you are likely to hear from sceptics) is computation requirements – time, that is. To make meaningful decisions in real time, any decision support software should take a couple of minutes to provide a concrete, possible-to-implement recommendation.

Jaime Salom of Trakteplan, Project Manager of the online simulation project completed by Telvent in

Traffic simulation has reached a whole new level.

ALEX TORDAY and ALEX GERODIMOS send this

live report


Traffic Simulation

Left: Comparison of strategies for online incident management in Madrid with Telvent’s SICTRAM interface


Madrid, comments:“When we completed the first phase of the project concluding that 25 per cent of the Madrid metropolitan area needed to be included in the Aimsun Online system for incident management, some of us began to wonder whether we were going to run into trouble. But the system now takes 2-3 minutes to prepare, load, run and report back a recommended action based on simulation of various options for the next 30 minutes.”

Performance enhancingSo why is this suddenly possible? Granted, processor speeds have improved – but not that much. What has changed much over the last few years is the way in which hardware manufactur-ers accomplish performance improve-ments.

Advances in multi-CPU technology clearly favour software designed pri-marily to support parallel execution: importantly, parallel on a single com-puter, not across computers. The ability to buy a 4-, 8- or even 16-CPU computer for a modest amount of money means that, with the right software, you could be looking at significant performance gains.

Still, the question lingers: what if I need to model an even larger area? A micro-simulation model of an entire metropolis that takes 20 minutes to run may be impressively efficient given the amount of computation involved but is, mildly put, not very useful for real-time deci-sion-making. Focussing where it matters becomes important.

Yannis Stogios of Delcan Corporation who is responsible for the design and implementation of a meso/microscopic simulation framework for one of Delcan’s major clients explains.

“The main premise behind our approach in a number of projects we carry out these days is that there is no need for micro-simulation all the time at all locations across a fairly large road network.”

Cue mesoscopic simulation: detailed enough to deal with traffic control plans and changing demand, yet rapid enough to deal with huge networks and easier to calibrate. Combine the two models at the same time into a hybrid simulator and you have something quite powerful and scaleable without losing accuracy where it’s needed.

Lifting the gloomThe second hurdle to overcome when taking simulation online is data require-ments. We quite often hear, “we’d love to do something like that but we have no

Traffic Simulation


data”. The simple truth is that simulation modelling, be that offline or online, cannot have a meaningful impact in the extreme case that there is no data at all. The good news is that this gloomy scenario is rarely what actually happens.

What is far more common is that the detection layout covers some areas but is not quite adequate; some detectors produce erroneous data; and it’s difficult to know where to start to derive meaningful patterns out of

historical data. Whilst serious, these hurdles are not

insurmountable, thanks to new algo-rithms and software. In Aimsun the quality of the coverage afforded by detection layout can be analysed, and additional detector locations can be identified to optimise the amount of traffic flow captured. As for pattern matching and historical data analysis, specialist software can help a great deal.

Heribert Kirschfink of German momatec GmbH, the company behind the ALMO® soft-ware, explains: “We now have accumulated significant experience collecting, cleaning up and making sense of traffic data from various regions and cities. With the help

Madrid project scope

“What has changed much over the last

few years is the way in which hardware

manufacturers accomplish

performance improvements”

Roads Scholar

Highways are getting smarter. They look the same,

black asphalt and white lines but look a little closer.

Small weigh and speed detectors right in the asphalt,

overhead cameras and sensors to

record every move. Other more obvious

additions are there too, like message

signs that change for every vehicle!

With IRD technology, our roads can monitor, record and

communicate thousands of pieces of data every second

over wired and wireless networks. Data that you can use

to make roads stronger, faster, and safer.

Talk to the smart people at IRD,

they’ve been leading the way in ITS

for over 25 years.

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INTERNATIONALROAD DYNAMICS INC.

Simulation


of additional information such as weather data and a cal-endar of special events, we are able to group historical data in typical daily patterns.

“Although it would be wrong to speak of general rules, experience so far shows that, in most networks, all yearly traffic demand can be grouped in a couple of dozen traf-fic patterns with limited internal variability.”

Emulator, tooAlas, the challenges are not over: signal information is next. In most cities, control plans are dynamically changed during the day so the status of the signal groups at any one time has to be found. This can be done relatively easily by read-ing in, in real-time, the information from the controllers and feeding it through an interface to the simulation. If adaptive control is in place, the best option by far is to emulate the logic - as the simulation advances in the future, the emulator takes care of the signal changes.

The aspiring adopter has more to think about. To make useful comparisons the traffic management strategies to be assessed have also to be loaded in the model – on the spot. These strategies are composed by a group of actions - such as a lane closure, rerouting with VMS, speed limit variation or ramp metering.

Expertise soughtThe view of Martin Wylie at Southampton ROMANSE is that doing one’s homework offline is the best initial approach for demonstrating the likely operational base-line status of the network:

“The aim is for ROMANSE to expand its ability to man-age the network through the use of pre-modelled sce-narios providing the network operator with options for strategic control which have a level of confidence based upon its modelled outcome and providing confidence in the selected method of control.

“While this approach is very pragmatic and, frankly, the only readily applicable one, we cannot help but look forward to the scenario where the model becomes homogeneous with the traffic control system and gener-ates strategies dynamically based on abstract rules and historical results.”

Reflecting on the above, whilst an exciting and reward-ing prospect, taking simulation online is no mean feat and requires commitment and perseverance. Then again, 30 years ago the notion that it would be possible to forecast demand for passenger flights by origin and destination, day of the week and time of the day and on

that basis overbook flights and dynam-ically vary ticket prices was seen as a nice dream.

Today, yield management is so widely adopted as to be unnoticeable. Yet the challenges faced by the airline reservation centres at the technology

level were not dissimilar in nature: incomplete or “dirty” historical data, a very short time window in which to make a decision and (lots of) disparate systems talking to each other.

However, the most striking similarity, we think, is at the people level: successful adopters saw yield manage-ment as a programme and combined it with change management initiatives which allowed them to develop modelling expertise in-house and really be on top of the models. In that way yesterday’s empirical experts evolved into modelling gurus.

It seems a fairly safe bet that simulation will see a sim-ilar sort of adoption pattern in traffic control centres in the next few years; whether this will/should be com-bined with dynamic congestion pricing ... that merits a separate discussion. TH

The authors can be contacted by email at [email protected] or [email protected]

Visit the website at www.aimsun.com

Analysis of workday detector count data from Madrid using the ALMO® software

“Yesterday’s empirical experts will evolve into

modelling gurus”

Traffic Simulation

VITRONIC Dr.-Ing. SteinBildverarbeitungssysteme GmbHHasengartenstr. 14D-65189 WiesbadenFon + 49 [0] 611-7152-0Fax + 49 [0] [email protected]

High-performance Solutions for Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR)

PoliScansurveillance – fi xed or mobile System

One of the core components of the systemis a specially designed laser-based detection.

It offers additional advantages such as:

• High-performance laser triggering unit • Coverage of high speed multi-lane roads up to

250km/h (155mph)• Outstanding vehicle capture rates (> 99.5%)• Industry-leading ALPR read rates even in poor weather conditions and bright sunlight• No in-road equipment such as induction loops or piezo sensors required• Integration into a new or existing back offi ce system

Meet the digital future


There are a lot of things a person can be frustrated about, no matter what type or size of company one works for. In a large, global organization like 3M one is part of a larger network. It may be easier to find exper-tise or help internally. Decisions may sometimes take a little longer. For stockmarket-listed companies the long- term strategy has short-term profit as a stronger counter balance.

But in my near 25 years with 3M, I’ve had the opportu-nity to move around in several aspects (career wise and geographically) so I have absolutely no reason to complain.

I have a polymer engineering degree and started with the 3M Specialty Materials Division, where I got involved with fluorochemicals and fluoropoly-mers. This is a technical responsibility based at the European Technical Center in Antwerp, in support of the European customers. The interesting part that these chemicals and polymers have a broad range of applications : from textiles, over paints and coatings, packag-ing materials, to automotive and aero-space applications. A real B2B (business to business) environment.

I also had the opportunity to temporar-ily locate to the 3M HQ in St Paul, Minne-sota, USA which was a fantastic experience for the whole family.

Another excellent experience was when 3M acquired the fluoropolymer division of Hoechst in 1999. I worked in this division for five years which provided an interest-ing mixture of German (Bavarian) and American cultures.

There are some significant differences in product portfolio and business models between the different divisions and Traffic Safety Systems is a nice blend of government-related and private sector business models. Our direct customers are mainly signmakers, pavement marking applicators and license plate pro-ducers. While final specifications are set by authorities. One sees the gradual move to European (CEN) or broader international, global standards (ISO, UN ECE).

The direct relation to road safety and mobility makes the job easier to explain to friends and family, than the chemistry aspects of fluoropolymers. Everybody is con-cerned about traffic jams and accidents.

Regulatory Affairs Manager, 3M Europe’s Traffic Safety Systems Division and Vice-President, International Road Federation’s Brussels and Geneva Programme Centres

Rik Nuyttens

I am often asked how we link 3M’s commercial objectives with road safety. It’s simple, there has to be a win-win situation. One cannot sell products if they do not solve problems.

Authorities do not have an unlimited budget and they cannot specify commercial products in public tenders so there is a two-step approach because we are living in a regulated market. Road construction products are cov-ered by the European construction product directive. This means they are covered by CEN standards and we are going through a harmonization of these standards. CE marking will soon cover all road infrastructure (fur-niture) products. So as a product supplier you have to make sure your products are covered by a CEN stand-ard. This means you sit around the table with your com-petitors, and other stakeholders like test institutes, road authorities and your direct customers in order to gener-ate or modify a CEN standard.

Differences between products have to be expressed by performance classes, not material composition or means of construction. Also test methods to meas-ure the performance aspects have to be defined. So you can imagine, that not everybody has the same vision about what is good and what is better.

And what is the benefit to the road user? There are commercial interests all the

way to the suppliers of test equipment. If you can create a difference with your competitors’ products, it may make your life much easier later. Modifying an existing standard takes about three years on average and then you still need to have it approved by every EU member-state. Finally, of course, you phase it in to replace the current standard.

A good example of this is the retro-reflective film used for traffic signs, the current EN 12899-1 stand-ard only covered glass-beaded products and defined two performance classes. Finally, the latest 2007 revi-sion clearly clarified the existence of different technolo-gies like micro-prismatic constructions. Many other countries had already introduced 1 or more higher classes to acknowledge the advantages of these prod-ucts and the variety that exists within this micropris-matic technology.

As depending on the shape and choice of different prisms (which look like micro Egyptian pyramids), one

The Thought Process

“The relation to road safety and mobility makes the job easier to

explain than fluoropolymers”

The Thought Process


has created EOTA. This organisation will assist the sup-plier by establishing a protocol to obtain an ETA (Euro-pean Technical Approval), which leads to CE marking. If everything goes well, what rarely happens, the process could be finished in less than one year. But this is still faster and more certain than trying to adapt the CEN standard, so it covers the new technology as well.

New technology often brings new levels of perform-ance which is not recognized by the standard. The only way is to “upgrade” the CEN standard, which is a multi- year effort and often going against the flow.

Many people think CE marking is a quality label. Unfortunately it is not. It only shows that the product has passed the test protocol set by the CEN standard. CE marking only shows that the products passed the absolute minimum require-ments defined by this standard. CE mark-ing allows the product to be offered on the market, but it is not an endorsement to buy it. Only the full test report will show the level of performance or classes that have been attained. Don’t worry though, most engineers know the value of CE marking as the first entry level require-

ment. The good news for a supplier is that the CE mark-ing process sets the uniform test protocol Europe-wide and reduces “creativity” by certain national standards.

Within the family of construction products, standards are very often based on compromises between the par-ties around the table, the minimum requirements to obtain CE marking can be very low. So this does not nec-essarily imply that the product will add to road safety.

To summarize we can say that a CE marked product has been tested in a European approved way and made it to the first step on the performance staircase.

The first example that comes to mind, is the EN 1317 for road restraint systems. A guard rail system will be able to obtain CE marking if it can contain a certain size car at a defined speed under a certain angle (all set by the standard). But this system will not add a lot to safety when it is put in a curve where most of the accidents involve heavy vehicles.

One could use a similar example in the road marking area. In a few years we will have CE marking for all types of road markings. But CE marking can be obtained when the road marking shows a very low level of night visibil-ity during dry weather conditions. So if your road mark-ing is performing under various weather conditions and/or durable for more than a year it is not necessarily tested.

This is where the second phase activities start to come into play. Also the regulators start to pay more attention to this. It is very important to agree on stand-ardized test methods to define the performance charac-teristics but as we are dealing with safe road infrastructure, even more important is to define the ‘road safety benefits’ for a certain performance level. Compa-

The Thought Process

can define how much and how the light emitted by the vehicle is sent back to the drivers. As one needs to see and read the signs at different speeds and distances the returned light has the travel back under different angles (called observation angles): we have sportscars where the eyes of the driver are just above the headlights (if one looks from the front side of the car) all the way to trucks and buses where the driver is easily sitting 1.6 m above the headlights.

This observation angle is also changing when the car is approaching the sign. A second aspect is the position of the sign versus the road (above, left or right, in a curve, on a roundabout, etc) as this will define how the light of the vehicle will hit the sign. We call this entrance angle. So putting it simply, performance classes have to be based on the right combina-tions of observation and entrance angles. How much light should come back for a certain situation (eg urban or rural, motorway or country road) could be specified later by selecting the right per-formance class. This is then the responsi-bility of the road authority: what is the road and traffic situation? Is he concerned about the elder drivers who need more light to read the directional signs. Does he have an idea how many trucks take the road where the sign will be? The standard should provide him the tool to specify the right materials.

We are currently harmonizing the way the various countries have built these higher classes. So everybody measures and defines performance the same way. This will be the final phase of the revision of this standard, probably by next year.

You might think that this means putting new, inno-vative products onto the market is no longer prob-lematic but that really isn’t the case - for some products it may be impossible. As older, technology- based standards are still in place, it may be impossible to test some totally new concepts according to this standard and the CE marking cannot be obtained. To resolve this barrier of trade the European Commission

“The CE marking process sets the uniform

test protocol Europe-wide and reduces

‘creativity’ by certain national

standards”


The Thought Process

nies like 3M invest in understanding the “driver bene-fits” or “driver behaviour impact” of products like road markings or traffic signs.

Also the European Commission continuously spon-sors this type of research, where consortia are put together and large scale studies can be done. This has even become a kind of business opportunity, even core business for certain research companies. Case studies, large scale feasibility projects and practical experience are the best way a company can follow to prove that the offered solutions have road safety benefits.

Although it would appear, on the face of it, that only big multinationals can afford to adopt this approach, it’s not actually true. Europe and especially European authorities are sceptical. They do not like monopolies and seem to have more sympathy for the underdog. Look at all these anti-trust regulations. Sometimes this attitude may also have a downside, as certain cost effec-tive solutions do not make it on a broad scale because only one company can supply this solution or meets a certain performance class in a standard. This way they do not force the rest of the industry to invest and supply better materials.

This knife cuts as deep, even deeper, for a small com-pany offering the solution and being stuck, not able to sell or expand.

This is why industry associations as the International Road Federation play an important role. Smaller compa-nies can become a member too. These organisations represent a broad cross-section of the industry and have a much better voice at EU or political level. Similar to these sponsored research projects, federations can be very helpful.

I also applaud the work that is done by road safety NGOs, a good example is the European Transport Safety Council here in Brussels. It is also their effort by putting the facts on the table that will force the author-ities to further invest in road safety. Not only by putting the burden on others, by forcing the car industry to pro-duce safer cars, but also by investing in better and safer infrastructure and investing in better education and enforcement tools.

The “road” is a fascinating world, with many frustra-tions, but really comparable to the veins in our body: needed to keep the body alive by accommodating the transport of the vital components. Mobility to allow a healthy, sustainable pace of growth. Social and eco-nomic aspects. Environmental aspects. Importance ver-sus other modes of transportation.

What is the price we are willing to pay for a safe road network? How many fatalities and serious injuries are we willing to tolerate? Can other modes of transporta-tion resolve the mobility issues? How do we charge for using this road network? And do we reinvest correctly? And when we expand it all the way to Europe’s future on this ever-shrinking planet…a good “master plan” is needed. TH

[email protected]

Americas: +1 800 445-5444 Europe & Middle East: +45 4457 8888 Asia Pacific: +81 45-440-0154www.jai.com

The best vehicle imaging from any point of view

Trust JAI’s VIS-CAM family of vehicle imaging systems to deliver maximum performance for your most demanding traffic applications. Multiple VIS-CAM configurations provide the pixel density and high image quality you need for automated plate reading, with a choice of as-pect ratios that can be combined to meet nearly any lane coverage requirement.

Whether you need a system to support open road toll-ing, electronic toll collection, or a variety of other tasks, there’s a VIS-CAM configuration with the field-of-view and innovative features your project demands.

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VIS-CAM 300FOV=1.7m

VIS-CAM 400FOV=4.4m

VIS-CAM 350FOV=3.2m

VIS-CAM 500FOV=4.7m, 3.7m vertical

SIR HOWARD BERNSTEIN

(Manchester City Council)

PAUL UNWIN

(Highways Agency)

LUCY WICKHAM

(Mouchel)

PETER PRICE

(Derby City Council)

IAN DRUMMOND

(Leicestershire County Council)

BOB TUCKWELL

(Cambridgeshire County Council)

KALLISTRATOS DIONELIS

(ASECAP, Belgium)

ROBERT B KELLY

(Squire Sanders Dempsey, USA)

PROF ERIC SAMPSON CBE

(ITS UK)

PETER PLISNER

(BBC Transport Correspondent)

TIM HOCKNEY

(London First)

PAUL GLOVER

(Transport for London)

SHARON KINDLYSIDES

(Kapsch, Austria)

CHRIS COLE

(ARUP)

TOM ANTONISSEN

(LOGOS Public Affairs, Belgium)

DUNCAN MATHESON

(PA Consulting)

DAVID MARPLES

(Technolution, Netherlands)

IAN CATLING

(Ian Catling Consultancy)

JACK OPIOLA

(Booz & Company)

ANDREW PICKFORD

(Transport Technology Consultants)

STEVE MORELLO

(Group EGIS, France)

TOM VÖGE

(Transport & Mobility, Belgium)

RICHARD HARRIS

(WSP Group)

DAVID PEARSON

(innovITS)

NICK WILLIAMS

(Transport for London)

ANDY GRAHAM

(White Willow Consulting)

GARY BRIDGEMAN

(ERTICO - ITS Europe, Belgium)

SASCHA RUJA

(Q-Free, Norway)

H B MEDIA3

SPEAKERS and PANELLISTS

IS A TRANSPORT PARADISE POSSIBLE IN EUROPE?THINKING HIGHWAYS’

European Congestion ManagementThink Tank

Thursday 16 October 2008

Villa Park, Birmingham£380 + VAT for private sector delegates

£260 + VAT for local authority delegateswww.thinkinghighways.com/events.cfm

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An intelligently structured, thought-provoking Powerpoint- and sales pitch-free workshop taking

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Demand Management, the UK Transport Innovation Fund (TIF), HOT/HOV Lanes, Road

Pricing, City Pricing and the UK Local Transport Bill

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Stunted growth

Speed Detection


With traffic safety such a high priority for most com-munities, traffic authorities want to be confident that they are using the most effective technology to impact driver behaviour improving consequently road safety.

How do you convince road users to reduce speed without the threat of a points-penalty or a fine? Speed displays (also known as ‘friendly radars’ or vehicle acti-vated speed signs (VASS, opposing radar systems for low enforcement)), have proved that they are the most suitable weapon in the permanent campaign against speeding.

It is no easy task to make drivers admit that speeding

What is the most effective traffic-calming measure on the market? Give up? KHALED BELHEDI has the answer...

Preventative medicine

Climate Change





Speed Detection

can have tragic consequences in a society where veloc-ity is praised. It is, therefore, a long process which can nevertheless be accelerated by using the right technol-ogy at the right time and in the right place.

Because drivers interpret the warning form VASS as something that is protecting their own safety, as well as exposing the fact that they are speeding, it is a highly persuasive means of getting drivers to slow down. This helps to reduce accidents, avert economic damage and save lives. Always welcomed from every road user, from pedestrians to drivers, VASS are an unsurpassed tool to make them fully aware of the consequences of speeding.

Some factsSpeeding is unquestionably the main cause of road acci-dents. This is a sad reality that is known and recognised throughout the world. Of every two road deaths, one is as a direct result of speeding. A survey of more than 100 traffic engineers, police officers and safety profession-als in the US confirmed that those institutions are aware of what is wrong and what should be done.

Experts agree that high traffic speeds are the single most important factor affecting the number and severity of road accidents. And they also agree that speed dis-plays are the most cost effective and reliable way to make drivers slow down. Reducing mean speeds by an average of 3-9 mph would generate an overall reduction in accidents of 33 per cent. That is what the UK’s Trans-port Research Laboratory (TRL) Report 548: Vehicle signs –a large scale evaluation identified over a group of speed limit random sites.

It takes a long tradition and a sharp commitment to this challenge to develop highly effective products that can make a real contribution to improving road safety on a daily basis until high efficiency requirements have to be validated. This is a long and never-ending process which finally helps road safety authorities to meet their professional obligations.

Saving livesThe VASS should be visible, displaying an obvious and clear message. On the other hand the sign should not distract the driver or cause a sudden reaction. With this in mind, RADARLUX combined a long-range radar Dop-pler system together with an accurate radar signal processing unit as well as with high-bright LEDs, with automatic brightness control, for a perfect visibility by day or night giving so the drivers sufficient time to react. With a range of 150m for cars TEMPODIS can’t be ignored or disregarded by passing drivers.

The registration and comprehension of the displayed message leads to an immediate (but not sudden) reac-tion from the driver who reduces his speed “spontane-ously”. This is not only a smooth education of speeding drivers with a long-lasting effect but it’s also a positive measure for those who don’t exceed the speed limit.

Saving money The signs have to be easy to use, cost effective and serv-ice friendly. As a high-tech response to these needs, the RADARLUX TEMPODIS (also known in the UK as Speed-Visor) was originally designed to provide the traffic experts with hard evidence and clear statistics. It’s an ideal tool to show the public and the authorities that effective measures have been taken to improve road safety and, of course, to show concrete and substantial results.

An effective and impressive data collecting makes it possible for the persons in charge of traffic security to carry out studies of traffic speed before and after deploy-ment and more generally to have an overview of the real situation. With the storage of the data from up to 270,000 vehicles - including type, date, time and speed -


TEMPODIS is the essential tool to every significant traf-fic study. A large number of parameters could be set: time and mode of display as well as the maximum speed which should be displayed.

Value-added servicesFor instance, the sign could be calibrated to specifically display speed during rush-hour time, consequently extending the battery’s life. To prevent attempts by some drivers to”race” the system, the VASS may only show values included in predetermined intervals by avoiding their expected gratification. Even if nothing (or only the maximum allowed speed) appears on the screen for a clearly defined period, every vehicle passage is still saved for statistical purposes.

The meaningful recorded data and the efficient soft-ware tool will also help decide where further speed restrictions should be set. The lightweight, ergonomic control panel and the significant connectivity (Blue-tooth, WLAN, GPRS etc) in addition to the intelligent power management are unique features reducing its minimum installation, maintenance and service costs.

A cutting-edge communication technology for both sign set-up and data retrieval allows traffic authorities remote access from their office as the TEMPODIS is even fitted with GSM modems.

The lightweight device also allows authorities to be


flexible and mobile regarding deployment and check-ing the traffic situation in different areas and it also gives a tangible picture of dangerous locations. Conventional speed limit signs alone are no longer sufficient!

Statistics don’t lieA study by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the UK’s West Midlands where RADARLUX-supplied VASS units have been in use since 2004 (with a 802km road network and a population of 290,000) produced the following results:

An 85 per cent reduction in speed as well as a big reduction in higher vehicle speed. On a 30mph site which had previously recorded an 85th percentile of 41.7mph the introduction of RADARLUX VASS saw a 9.7mph reduction in the 85th percentile, a 92 per cent reduction in the number of vehicle travelling at 40mph or above towards the sign, and a 75 per cent reduction in the number of vehicles travelling at 35mph towards the sign. A worthwhile reduction in the speed of vehicles travelling in the opposite direction (ie away from the sign) has, interestingly, also been recorded in the sur-rounding areas. TH

For further information on the TEMPODIS 230/280+, contact RADARLUX Radar Systems GmbH on

+49 214 206494 0, by email at [email protected] or visit www.radarlux.com

RADARLUX has devoted more than 20 years of research and development into this noble challenge with as newest development the TEMPODIS 280+: light, convenient and efficient


Stunted growth


There is a common belief amongst visitors to the biennial Traffex exhibition that its organisers (espe-cially me) have an easy life and that after the show closes we retreat to a tropical paradise island to rest and prepare for the next event in two years time. Sadly the reality is somewhat different as even before the show opens its doors for business, plan-ning for the next Traffex will already be underway.

The 2009 edition of Traffex, which takes place at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, UK from 21-23 April, sees the show move from its normal home of Hall 4 into the much larger Hall 5, which offers 28,000 sqm of floor space.

With attractive new venues in London and a growing number of international visitors, a major task for the organisers is making sure that the Traffex exhibition is held in the right venue. Each year we test visitor and exhibitor opinion on where Traffex should be held, and the NEC continues to be the number one choice for this industry. The NEC is centrally located in the UK with excellent road, rail and transport links, and with an inter-national airport on-site, overseas visitors can fly directly to the venue, saving on lengthy transfer times.

Growing the businessThe move to a larger hall will ensure there are more exhibitors and visitor attractions than ever before. With over 200 exhibitors already confirmed and more joining each week, Traffex 2009 is set to display a truly fantastic range of products. Leading suppliers already signed up include, 3M, Siemens, Peek Traffic, Hill & Smith Group, UK Department for Transport, Serco and Rennicks Group, to name just a few.

New features planned include two new purpose-built Seminar Theatres, a Passive Safety Zone, a Re-Instatement Challenge and a Street Design feature, which will showcase the latest traffic management and street furniture products in-situ in a real life street envi-ronment. The Street Feature is designed by leading architects Capita Lovejoy.

Visitors to the event will not only have access to the latest products and services that are being designed worldwide, but can also attend a range of topical semi-nars. The 2009 Traffex seminar programme will be pro-duced in association with ITS UK and will give visitors the chance to take part in 17 sessions over the three days. The seminars, which will be free to attend, will

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, we’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside... Brintex’s BILL BUTLER makes an exhibition of himself with the first of his Traffex 2009 previews

Event Preview

Up and running...

Climate Change





focus on the practical implementation of ITS technology and will highlight partnerships with both the public and private sector.

Full details of the programme will be available at www.traffex.com in January. Paper submissions are welcome and should be sent to Jennie Martin at ITS UK (e-mail: [email protected]).

Co-located showsTraffex will once again co-locate with Parkex Interna-tional, which has now grown to become Europe’s largest dedicated parking industry event. Organised on behalf of the British Parking Associa-tion, over 100 exhibitors will take part to showcase the lat-est in parking technology from on and off street parking, car park operators, signage, software and enforcement services.

A new addition for Traffex 2009 is the launch of the Street Design exhibition, which will take place in the same hall as Traffex and Parkex. Street Design is a visionary new event that will show-case the products used in creating the urban environ-ment. The event will be of interest to buyers from both the public and private sector focused on creating open spaces within the public realm to live, work and travel.

The co-location of Traffex, Parkex and Street design will give visitors a one stop opportunity to see the latest products and services that help create safer, accessible and sustainable transport projects.

See you in April!Traffex has long been established as the meeting place for anyone involved in the design, management and

maintenance of the world’s traffic infrastructure, and the 24th edition is shaping up to be the best yet. Traffex will open its doors for business on Tuesday, 21 April 2009. Over the three days visitors to Traffex will be able to see first hand and evaluate the very latest products and services available from the UK, Europe, USA and across the world.

Many exhibiting companies will be choosing Traffex 2009 as the launch pad for their latest products and services

and so far the event is on track to exceed expectations. TH

For more information on Traffex, Parkex or Street Design visit the dedicated websites: www.traffex.com,

www.parkex.co.uk and www.streetdesignuk.com Attending these exhibitions is free and online registra-

tion will be open from October 2008.

Event Preview


Stunted growth

Road User Charging


I don’t often use direct quotes as article titles but when Q-Free’s Per Ecker came out with“RUC within the ITS market has gone from a segment to a mega-trend” during our interview it was just begging to be the headline. It seemed rude not to.

Ecker’s non-throwaway line re-emphasises Q-Free’s belief that the need for infrastructure financing com-bined with the desire to radically reduce congestion – and consequently derive both significant economic and environmental gains for cities – will drive the European ETC user base by up to 10 times today’s current numbers.

A huge challenge currently facing the transport indus-try is highway and city congestion, a common problem which has a negative effect on the economy, air quality, health and the environment.

“Most cities were built long before cars were invented and there is not always room to build more roads or parking spaces within existing infrastructure. There has also been a rapid growth in car ownership in the last decade, in particular fuelled by the expanding middle classes of developing nations,” Ecker says.

The aim, Ecker believes, is to avoid the approaching gridlock resulting from the growth of private car usage and the widespread absence of acceptable public trans-port alternatives. Charges on private car usage will

The global Road User Charging (RUC) market will experience strong growth over the coming years. Q-Free’s Vice President for Sales and Marketing PER FREDRIK ECKER shares his thoughts on market trends with KEVIN BORRAS

From mere segment to megatrend

“We see an increasing focus on cost effi ciency in

toll collection operation which drives conversion

from manual systems to fully

automated solutions”

Climate Change





Road User Charging


typically result in some switching to use public trans-port instead.

“Q-Free’s focus is on RUC – a segment of the ITS mar-ket. We clearly see an increased activity in this market and this growth is driven by the need to invest by both existing and new markets in road infrastructure, for which the cost exceeds government budgets,” Ecker continues.

“We also see an increasing focus on cost efficiency in toll collection operations, which drives conversion from manual systems to modern fully automated solutions. Further, we see higher visibility of truck tolling projects and not to mention congestion charging projects cur-rently at planning stage around the world”.

“RUC has already experienced a steady growth dur-ing the last 20 years. It is particularly within the new seg-ments that we see the highest activity now, projects on Congestion Charging, Truck Tolling and Multilane Free Flow,” Ecker says.

Thinking positivelyKey points worth mentioning are the fact that RUC sys-tems would have a significant positive impact on the environment and have time and cost efficiency benefits; both these add to the market drivers explained above.

“The transportation industry is one of the most pollut-ing industries in the world and to control and reduce this is crucial. Truck Tolling has a large market potential and we now expect movement in larger projects in Western and Central Europe,” Ecker says.

Historically, ITS solutions have proven to be a sound economic investment by governments, predominantly for RUC and congestion reduction. Most ITS solutions such as RUC, congestion charging and truck tolling deliver environmental, as well as economic, benefits.

Stockholm congestion chargingThe objectives for the Stockholm Congestion Charge were to reduce congestion, reduce travelling time for commuters, improve the environment with less traffic and less pollution on the roads and to generate funding for public infrastructure.

“If we look at the overall results from the congestion charging system in Stockholm, we see that traffic was reduced by 20 per cent, travel time was reduced by 10-30 per cent and there was 10 per cent less pollution. All the goals initially set out for this project were met,” Ecker insists.

In a referendum, the population of Stockholm voted in favour of making the congestion tax system permanent. A parliamentary decision made the congestion tax sys-tem permanent effective from 1 August 2007.

Global footprintQ-Free sees high activity in markets such as South Africa, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe the Trondheim-based company are building the organisation and prod-ucts to meet this growing market demand.

“We are an international company who works in many diverse countries and across all continents and to be sure that we understand our clients and culture prop-


erly, we like to engage the best people in local markets as partners, who can help us operate correctly and responsibly in a given community. Q-Free’s acquisition of the world’s leading ALPR company Dacolian BV of The Netherlands, is proof of our intentions to get the best players from all around the world working together. This enables us to focus clearly on the clients’ demands and those of their customers.

“We believe that the global RUC market will at least double or triple in the next couple of years, “ Ecker con-tinues. “Congestion charging schemes will probably be implemented in several large cities around the world. This means easier travelling for the commuters and less pollution and less congestion in the major cities.”

By focusing equally on the challenges of today and tomorrow Q-Free is intent on developing a state-of-the–art technology as well as raising awareness of what eco-nomic and environmental benefits ITS can deliver. TH

[email protected]

Road User Charging

“Historically, ITS solutions have proven to be a

sound economic investment by governments”

RedSpeed™

Digital Speed and/or Red Light Enforcement

Visit us on Stand 555, ITS World Congress Jacob Javits Conference Centre, NYC

17th - 20th November 2008

www.redspeed-int.com

Stunted growth


According to the 2006 report of the ITS taskforce of the Greek E-Business forum [the national observa-tory and consulting workshop for ICT develop-ments], Greece was far behind the EU benchmark for ITS implementations.

Back then the country could only demonstrate some rather important traffic management systems, concen-trated nevertheless in big cities and in the capital Ath-ens in particular. The public transport segment had also just a few significant projects to be proud of, such as Thessaloniki’s fleet management system and the Athens tram passenger information system. Smaller Greek cit-ies were largely left behind. Public transport in those cities operated in the traditional, manual way leading rather too often to inefficiencies.

However, this situation has changed since 2006 through a series of ITS implementation actions initiated by the public transport operators and/or local authorities and backed by governmental political support and, most importantly of all, funding.

The most significant aspect of this development is the establishment of synergies between the private sector’s bus operators and the local authorities and central gov-ernmental agencies. These synergies have lead to much-needed modernisation through the implementa-tion of various deployment strategies.

The first related implementation took place in the small city of Trikala, in the framework of a local govern-ment ICT initiative called e-Trikala. The project aimed at city-wide ITS development. Following this rather moderate project, a series of 17 cities proceeded with

ITS projects, which focused exclusively on local, urban public transport ITS introduction.

Public transport environmentThe Metropolitan cities of Athens and Thessaloniki have a very complex urban transport network, which is closely monitored and managed by the central govern-ment. In Athens for example, there are five transit modes (buses, trolley buses, metro, tram, suburban rail) and seven respective transport authorities or operators.

On the other hand, the small and medium Greek cities have entirely different characteristics from the aforementioned large cities, which are all quite homogenous. To start with, a small and/or medium sized Greek city has a population of between 50,000 and 150,000 inhabit-ants. A respective bus fleet typically consists of between 15 and 60 buses, so by default those fleets are small.

The public transport services cover urban and subur-ban areas and also remote villages, although in some notable cases with high urban density the operation is mostly concentrated in the urban centre. The public transport networks are thus extended and regardless of their small fleet size, or rather because of that, the topol-ogy and service supplied are extremely complicated in order to cover the geographically-spread demand.

The bus operators, entirely private sector enterprises, form a local monopoly, however with a poorer subsidy level than big cities. In this context the bus operators clearly understand the need for enhanced tools, such as ITS, to safeguard their business and attract more cus-tomers on board.

VASSILIS MIZARAS on the modernisation of Greece’s urban public transport system

Greece

Ancient and modern

Climate Change


compelled to write an article offering his own views on

transportation’s impacts onm and

solutions for, climate change


Greece

In previous years, they have experimented with auto-matic ticketing machines, but only on a limited scale with automatic vehicle location and passenger informa-tion. The introduction of ITS solutions nevertheless has to be in line with the specific nature of the bus enter-prise: low-to-medium level of automation, low level of IT expertise, the lack of available back-office personnel, and “small company” culture.

The e-Trikala paradigmTrikala is a small mainland city of 60,000 inhabitants in the very centre of Greece, some way from major roads and other key transport networks. While the main focus of Greek information and commu-nications technology (ICT) develop-ments was on big cities and on the 2004 Olympic Games’ operational manage-ment, Trikala local authority decided to claim funds based on a concrete business plan, facilitat-ing the “Digital City” model. A number of applications based on ICT are focused on the needs of a medium sized city.

The Digital City is implemented through the e-Trikala project, which refers to a number of actions (individual projects). The e-Trikala project was officially announced by the Greek vice Minister of Finance, Mr C. Folias, on 10 December 2004, during a special event in Trikala and is funded by the Greek Information Society Framework Program (www.infosoc.gr). Some examples of the implemented e-Trikala projects include Metropolitan Area Network, Wireless Broadband Network, E-govern-ment, Tele-care for elderly and disabled and, of course, ITS.

The ITS element of e-Trikala aims at the development of the integrated management of transport operations in the town:

• Public transport fleet management• Passenger information• Municipal fleet management• Traffic data collection• Real-time Parking guidance• Integrated ITS monitoring application.A unique control room is installed and operated cen-

trally by personnel of the local authority to support opti-misation of fleet operations and traffic control, as well as passenger information. The Urban Public Transport AVL system is responsible for vehicle monitoring, transit service management and delivering bus arrival time forecasts at selected bus stops’ LED displays. Moreover, electronic boards located at municipal car parks receive and display messages informing drivers about space availability.

The Trikala local authority took the responsibility for deployment and operation on behalf of all involved stakeholders, such as the local urban bus operator. In this context, a close administrative and technical rela-tionship has been established, verified by a memoran-dum of understanding between the entities affected. The success of the particular strategy is leading to the future objectives of e-Trikala with respect to ITS, namely

providing Application Service Provider (ASP) support to other local authorities and private enterprises.

Urban bus operators’ approachThe Association of Urban Bus Operators (www.poas.gr) decided to initiate a central action for any city interested in deploying a full-scale public transport ITS. The initia-

tive was adopted by the Greek Infor-mation Society Framework Program for funding. The main concept was a preparation of a common technical specification that covers the following system areas:

• Ticketing: automatic vendor machines, paper and smart card vali-dators, reporting

• Fleet management: tracking, monitoring, management and service quality reporting

• Passenger information: central information dis-patch application, bus stop displays and other applica-tions.

The core specification was then adjusted to local needs, and each bus enterprise issued their own tender.

“Seventeen cities proceeded with ITS

projects, which focused exclusively

on local, urban public transport

ITS introduction”

65Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3


Greece


The first round of tenders was issued in late 2006, and three other rounds followed until the end of 2007. In total 17 projects were awarded around Greece to five different contractors (consortia and individual integrators); the main supplier of the fleet management and passenger information system was Infotrip S.A.

The main rationale behind the introduction of the fleet management has been primarily operational manage-ment and service moderation. Previously the operators suffered from service/timetable unreliability, long delays, and inability to monitor drivers’ behaviour.

Moreover, the enterprises lacked reliable data con-cerning demand, efficiency and vehicles’ maintenance, thus reporting and data collection have been quite sig-nificant requirements. Last but not least,following a gen-eral trend, bus ridership was decreasing and the enterprises sought methods to maintain and/or attract customers - passenger information has been acknowl-edged as key tool to accomplish that.

The fleet management sub-system comprised the fol-lowing components:

• On-board computer: a Win CE device with LCD screen and GPS/GPRS capabilities, enabling the driver to receive and send information through a graphical user interface. The on-board computer manages all peripheral devices on the bus


Greece

• Passenger counters: passenger counting is implemented for 10 per cent of the fleet

• Central system: allows cartographical and lin-ear view of the bus position and services’ execution as well as forecasting of bus arrivals at next stops and serv-ice reporting.

The passenger information sub-system consisted of the following components:

• On board information: voice announcement of next stop and internal LED displays

• Bus stop LED displays for presenting forecasts of bus arrivals

• Web application that provides journey plan-ning, timetable information and dynamic information

• IVR and SMS applications providing forecasts of bus arrivals.

Results and the futureThe first round of the fleet management and passenger information systems launched their formal operation in mid-2008. The “experimentation” has proved that the bus operators have in most cases easily migrated to the new operational environment. However, the lack of expert human resource and/or maturity sometimes leads to lower exploitation levels than anticipated, since the implemented systems have huge needs for monitor-ing and massive data feeds.

Another interesting result is that there have been dif-ferent levels of required co-operation between bus operators and local authorities, as a result of peculiari-ties of the local community and political conditions. In those cases where the co-operation was close and inti-mate, the project’s effectiveness has been palpably greater.

The key stakeholders mentioned above are in the course of next generation ITS deployment. On one hand, e-Trikala (now a public-private spin off company “e-Tri-kala SA”) is planning new applications in the city and has established a network of seven similar cities to export know-how. The bus operators are identifying

new needs following their experience and plan-ning more integrated approaches at city level (such as traffic light priority and park and ride actions) together with local authorities. TH

[email protected]


Stunted growth

Road Studs


75 years of bright ideas

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Percy Shaw giving the world the reflecting road marking stud, to which of course he gave the legendary name, ‘Cats-Eye’. Now the story is moving on to an exciting new chapter and two other British entrepreneurs, Martin Dicks and John Madejski, have taken the concept a step further, as STEPHEN SLATER reports

Climate Change





Road Studs

Three-quarters of a century ago, Percy Shaw’s original ‘bright idea’, the retro-reflective ‘Cats-Eye’ made its first appearance. It has become a design icon. Now a new British invention has brought 21st century technology to road marking. Astucia solar-powered ‘smart’ road studs store solar energy during the day, then built-in light emitting diodes automatically illuminate from dusk to dawn, providing drivers with up to 900m of continuous visibility.

The new road stud technology compares favourably with the elegant simplicity of Percy Shaw’s original design, which has ensured that its lengthy production run continues. Having made his breakthrough discov-ery in 1933, Shaw established a company, Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd to manufacture the devices.

The wartime blackout boosted production and such was their success that in 1947, the Junior Transport Min-ister Jim Callaghan (later to be British Prime Minister from 1976-1979) mandated the deployment of ‘cats-eyes’ on Britain’s trunk road system. They’re still on our roads today.

There have been many stories over the years regard-ing the origins of Percy Shaw’s invention. The more romantic versions of the tale was that one foggy night, on a cobbled, unlit road, Percy was finding his way home by his lights reflected on the tramlines. Except that on this night the tramlines had been taken up for repair and

the fog was dense. According to Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd’s official his-

tory of the event, “A sharp reflection in his headlights stirred his curiosity and caused him to bring his car to astandstill. On alighting from his vehicle he discovered that this reflection was the eyes of a cat but more impor-tantly that he was travelling down the wrong side of the road; had he continued in a straight path he would have plummeted over the edge of the twisting road.”

In that instant, so the legend goes, Percy had a vision of reflectors, strung out along the road instead of tramlines. It was certainly true that in the 1930s, with the ineffective headlights of the era, motorists did rely on reflections of their headlights on tramlines. However, as cars and buses made the trams obsolete, the tramlines were being removed and Shaw clearly predicted a need forsome kind of a reflective device.

One can also speculate that Shaw, with a wry York-shireman’s humour, probably wasn’t averse to “leading folk up the garden path”. His local newspaper, the Halifax Echo, reported that Percy Shaw gave a different story when interviewed in the 1960s by TV broadcaster Alan Whicker.

He said: “I saw this reflecting road sign one foggy night at Queensbury when I was coming out of a pub and I thought to myself: ‘We want those things down on


the road, not up there.’ So I pinched two or three of the reflectors and took them home and [larked] about with them. I must have mucked them about hundreds of times before I got them right and saw what I could do with them.”

The same today as it’s always beenThe incorporation of Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd on 15 March 1935, with Percy Shaw as Managing Director, would mean that the “cats-eye” would dominate the rest of his life. Shaw’s final design, with bullet shaped pieces of glass, housed in a cruciform self-cleaning compress-ible rubber pad and mounted on a metal base, is little changed today.

By the 1950s Percy Shaw’s factory at Boothtown in Halifax, was making more than a million roadstuds a year and was fully self-contained. Shaw constructed a foundry to produce the cast iron base, a rubber process-ing plant which dealt with the compounding and vul-canising of the rubber insert and a glass manipulation plant for the production and mirroring of the glass reflector.

Shaw reinvested most of the profits back in the com-pany and was known for living a simple, even spartan life. Among his few luxuries were two Rolls Royces and four TV sets, one in each living room of the family home, where he died on 1 September 1976, having lived there for all but two of his 86 years.

His cats-eye lives on. Today the Reflecting Roadstud Company continues to produce retro-reflective road studs carrying the “Cats Eye” registered trademark. Featuring a 14mm reflector manufactured from a special high quality glass, resistant to abrasive road particles, they remain an effective roadmarker even with the demands of increasing modern day traffic levels.

However, just as cars have developed over the past decades, so has the technology available to road stud manufacturers. First the development of plastics ena-bled the creation of lower-cost retro-reflective studs, many of which can utilise epoxy bonding to allow cheaper means of securing the units to the carriageway. Over the past two decades, though, another road stud has been developed. In terms of innovation it is compa-rable even to Percy Shaw’s invention.

Solar, so goodIn the late 1980s Martin Dicks was a serving front line firefighter with the London Fire Brigade. At the time however, he was living in Doncaster, West Yorkshire while based at Euston fire station in London.

Although a keen driver and motor cyclist, with home and work over 150 miles apart it meant that he spent a lot of time driving on motorways, in day and night condi-tions and in all weathers. It was on a long, foggy, motor-way journey that Dicks had what he has described as his ‘Eureka moment’.

“I was in spray and fog and just focusing on the tail-lights of the car ahead, which isn’t the best thing to do” says Martin. “I realised that the reflective road studs, just weren’t giving me enough guidance and depth percep-tion in the conditions.”

Road Studs


Rather than relying on the concept of reflecting the beam back from an approaching car’s headlights, Mar-tin devised the idea of using a source of power to drive efficient LEDs and create a permanent light source within each road stud.

“The big challenge was the power source” said Dicks. “Hard-wiring isn’t an appropriate solution in many cases, so ultimately I came up with using a solar cell to power a rechargeable battery, which in turn would have a surplus of power to drive low-energy demand LEDs”.

His concept proved a winner, extending the night-time view of the road tenfold from under 90 to about 900 metres. For drivers travelling at 60mph, the increased visibility given by the Astucia SolarLite road stud extends reaction times from 3.2 to over 30 seconds.

Research carried out by the Transport Research Labo-ratory (TRL) also shows that when the smart studs are used, drivers are also significantly less likely to cross the white line in the centre of a road or move out of lane on a dual carriageway. The greater number of visual ref-erences also means that drivers brake earlier and more consistently and tend not to speed into the corners.

Flushed with successThe Astucia SolarLite stud uses ‘smart’ technology which stores solar energy during the day, then triggers built-in LEDs to automatically illuminate from dusk to dawn. Each intelligent road stud is a completely self-sufficient unit which is mounted flush with the road surface and

SolarLite inventor Martin Dicks


requires no external power source or future mainte-nance. Sealed within a reinforced plastic case are a solar cell and rechargeable batteries, which collect and conserve energy with the road stud. The nickel metal hydride battery can store a charge that lasts 240 hours when fully charged. Just four hours of daylight will pro-vide enough battery power to last 10 nights.

Inevitably the initial, individual unit cost of an LED road stud is going to be higher than for a simple reflec-tor, but the latest Astucia studs have a projected life of eight to ten years, compared with just one to two years for a conventional retro-reflective stud.

An Astucia “smart” stud will therefore cost no more than a traditional retro-reflector over its full life. Mean-while the units’ efficiency can also allow a reduction in the use of energy- and maintenance-intensive, carbon-inefficient, streetlights.

In comparison with the cost and trauma of a fatal road accident of course, the price of any road stud pales into insignificance. According to the latest UK Department for Transport annual statistics, there are on average more than eight fatal accidents every day, each one cost-ing the country £1.69m (€2m). While only one third of all journeys occur at night, almost half of the serious or fatal accidents still occur during the hours of darkness.

Smart in the darkAstucia studs are now in use in approximately 120 loca-tions across the UK and a number of Local Authorities have reported reductions in night time accidents of well over 70 per cent since the installation of the Solar-

Lite “smart” road studs. A typical example was the instal-lation of SolarLite studs as part of measures to improve road safety, is on the A4226 in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales, locally known as “The Five Mile Lane”. It is a busy rural narrow and twisting commuter route which had a background of an unacceptably high accident record.

In the three years since the initial installation of the Astucia SolarLite road studs, there has been a 72 per cent reduction in accidents on compared with the previ-ous three years. On the twisting A143 at Haddiscoe in Norfolk in the East of England, there were 22 recorded accidents in a three year period, two of which involved loss of life, along with six causing serious injury. Of these accidents 95 per cent recorded were as a result of loss of control and 40 per cent occurred in the dark.

In the first two years since the SolarLite studs were introduced there was an immediate improvement in road safety, with only five recorded accidents all of which were slight. None occurred in the dark. The over-all accident frequency has reduced from 7.3 per year to 2.3 whilst the severity ratio has reduced from 36 per cent to zero.

Into AfricaIt is an international success story too. In Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa the studs demonstrated not only their effec-tiveness in road safety, but also their cost-effectiveness too. A major two-year pilot project was carried out on one of the country’s most notorious routes, the R66 north of Durban, which significantly reduced the number of

“By the 1950s Percy Shaw’s factory was making more than one million road

studs a year”Cats-Eye entrepreneur Percy Shaw (left) being interviewed by broadcaster Alan Whicker in the 1960s

Road Studs

[email protected] +27113141405

For further information or to book please contact uson 01869 362809 or visit www.clearviewtraffic.com

Road Studs

serious accidents and road deaths on the busy highway. In previous years, 88 serious accidents had claimed 27 lives and 15 less serious accidents had occurred on a twisting 34km section of the road between Melmoth and Ulundi. After the installation of 7,800 Astucia ‘smart’ road studs the accident rate fell to zero. The second stage of the installation extended the coverage to a total of 20,000 studs on 100 km of the R66.

The provincial government of Kwazulu-Natal esti-mates that the cost of the 103 accidents before the Astu-cia studs were installed was some R27m (€2.7m). The installation of the studs cost R5m. Such was the impact of the installation that consideration is now being given by the national government to extending the technology to other ‘red spots’ throughout the country.

When Martin Dicks left the fire service in 1992 and founded Astucia to develop and market his invention, little did he think that one day the company would have a global distribution network that includes Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Middle East countries, New Zealand, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the USA. Today Martin is rightly recognised within the industry as another true visionary in this vital field of road safety.

In addition to the stand-alone road stud, Martin invented an entire product range. Other Astucia prod-ucts include road studs that flash to warn of impending hazards such as fog can warn of approaching trains at level crossings, or can form part of traffic management systems. Astucia also sells the innovative HazlightTM

range of portable studs which can be deployed by motorists and the emergency services around vehicles at road-side incidents.

“I spent the first 10 years literally developing the units on my kitchen table” says Dicks. “It takes significant investment these days to get these products through approval processes, evaluation and then into produc-tion. Now I’m just delighted that the company is growing so fast.”

Much of that new-found growth comes from the

involvement of one of Britain’s top entrepreneurs. In 2003, Astucia made a significant step forward when John Madejski OBE DL, best known for his creation of the Auto Trader Group, his ownership of Reading Football Club and, more recently, for his charitable work in the arts field supporting the Royal Academy and the V&A museum, acquired a controlling interest in the busi-ness.

Madejski made further investments to fund the R&D programme and has supported the development of the company into a corporate structure. The Clearview Traffic Group provides an integrated ‘one-stop’ facility for highways agencies and transport planners.

Shedding light on the roadClearview Traffic provides ‘smart solutions’ to reducing accident risks and delays, aimed at increasing the effi-ciency of our ever more congested highway system. It is made up of Astucia, the market innovator for intelligent road studs; Golden River Traffic, a leader in the field of automated traffic counting and classifying; and Count On Us, the largest UK provider of transportation data collection and analysis services.

The company is taking an almost evangelical approach to its aim of delivering “effective, greener and safer roads”. One new initiative is a series of Road Shows dur-ing October, taking advantage of facilities at major foot-ball stadiums in Reading, Coventry, Bristol, Edinburgh and Leeds, to demonstrate the integrated solutions offered by Astucia, Golden River and Count On Us.

“Our company is driven by finding solutions for clients and providing round-the-clock reassurance to motorists” says Clearview Sales and Marketing Director Martin Rodgers. “Clearview Traffic brings together three companies which are individually the experts in their fields of business, each assists in the planning, development and implementation of cost and energy-efficient use of our road transport infrastructure.

“We provide transport planners, motorists and high-ways professionals with a single, efficient and easily accessed source of solutions.” TH

“Martin Dicks is recognised as a true

visionary in the vital field of road safety”



Stunted growth


Automated license plate reading (ALPR) is an essen-tial element of many different types of intelligent traffic systems.

Whether being used in isolation, to identify vehicles for tolling, congestion charging, or other applications, or being used for video enforcement in transponder-based systems, ALPR provides the essential ingredient needed to link vehicles and their owners to billing, tick-

All-in-one video imaging systems can help streamline deployment of ALPR capabilities – if they have the right stuff. FRANK LONG takes the leaner route to ALPR...

All for one, one for all

ALPR

eting, and other back-office functions. Not surprisingly, governmental agencies and other roadway operators are finding more and more potential uses for ALPR to help them realize projects that increase transportation revenues, reduce traffic congestion and lessen environ-mental impacts.

This desire for more widespread ALPR has created a growing need for vehicle imaging systems capable of

All-in-one imaging systems can be rapidly and inexpensively deployed – either with or without built-in ALPR engines

Climate Change


ALPR

providing the high quality, precisely-captured images needed for efficient plate reading.

Traditional video enforcement systems (VES), which utilize toll plazas, ground loops, lane controllers, and multi-component network infrastructures, still provide the best performing solution for feeding the ALPR appli-cation with high quality images. But these systems gen-erally require significant investments in time and money to properly construct and deploy. While this approach is warranted in many traditional tolling setups, there is an increasing number of newer applications, such as HOT/HOV lanes, congestion charging, and open road tolling, which have roadway operators looking for a leaner alternative – one that is faster to deploy and less costly than traditional vehicle imaging systems.

All-in-one imaging systemsRecently, a new breed of vehicle imaging system has emerged to try to fill this gap. These systems seek to eliminate the need for traditional ground loops or other triggering equipment in order to reduce deployment costs while speeding the installation process. Sometimes referred to as “all-in-one” imaging systems because they contain camera, illumina-tion, and can even be equipped with ALPR software, these systems can be attached to traditional gantries, but can also be pole mounted when gantries are unavailable or deemed too costly.

The attractiveness of such a solution, in terms of time-to-market and reduced construction costs, is obvious – but only if it can deliver the level of imaging performance needed to meet the ALPR requirements of the application. JAI is one of the companies that has developed an all-in-one product as a complement to the company’s more traditional multi-component systems.

The new system is called the IIT Camera System, named after a patent pending vehicle detection tech-nique (in-image triggering) that helps to set it apart from other all-in-one approaches. A closer look at the IIT System helps to illustrate some of the key challenges that must be met in order for an all-in-one imaging sys-tem to successfully fit into the ALPR equation.

Reliable vehicle detection/image captureFirst and foremost, the system must be able to capture and isolate images of every passing vehicle and plate without a traditional ground loop/lane controller or other hard-wired trigger method. Several approaches are available to address this, including overhead laser detectors and pattern recognition software. Unfortu-nately, results from these methods are often lower than desired.

Spot-beam lasers aimed at the middle of a traffic lane, for example, can easily miss vehicles changing lanes or simply shifted to one side. Using multiple lasers to over-come this or using newer “fanned” lasers, adds substan-tial time and cost for installation, tuning, and qualification,

“If the ALPR results are to be used for enforcement, a clear image ofthe vehicle in

question is also required”

thus undermining the concept of a “lean” deployment. And there’s still the problem of manual effort to remove false or multiple triggers caused by the contours of cer-tain vehicles, including trucks, convertibles, and others with non-standard profiles.

On the other hand, systems that use software to ana-lyze every image in a free running video stream must struggle to balance a variety of “readability” factors, such as contrast, size, and position in the frame, as they attempt to select plate images from the stream. Again, the result is often an unacceptable percentage of images selected as optimal by the pattern recognition software but deemed “unreadable” by the ALPR software.

One method that is providing performance approach-ing that of traditional loop-based systems is the innova-tive, patent pending self-triggering technology being used in JAI’s IIT Camera System. This system contains built-in optical sensors that analyze IR light reflected from passing vehicles to create a “virtual” trigger line to tell the camera precisely when to capture an image

based on the position of the vehicle. Unlike free-running video approaches, there’s no waiting for the next available frame.

This combination of virtual trigger-ing and on-demand image capture, results in more consistent positioning of the plate within the field of view, which provides the ALPR engine with sharper focus, more optimal lighting, and better pixel density across the plate area.

High quality images of plate and the scene The second key consideration is the overall quality of the image itself – including both the plate and the over-all scene. While technically an ALPR engine only needs a high contrast image of the plate, if the ALPR results are going to be used for any type of enforcement, a clear image of the vehicle in question is also required.

Unfortunately, many all-in-one imaging systems rely almost exclusively on IR illumination. This is mainly to avoid having to deal with ambient lighting conditions. By bouncing strong IR lighting off the retro-reflective vehicle plates, exposures can be set to take ambient conditions out of the equation. In most cases, this results in “floating plate” images where bright vehicle plates are seen against a nearly black background. While ade-quate for plate reading, the lack of discernable scene information makes these images extremely difficult to use for enforcement.

In order to address this problem, all-in-one imaging solutions must take an approach similar to JAI’s IIT Cam-era System, where a combination of IR and visible light-ing is used. For the IIT Camera System this involves being able to link a dual-band external flash unit to the system’s “virtual trigger” technology. This flash, trig-gered in precise synchronization with the image cap-ture process, provides a mixture of long and short wavelengths of light while remaining nearly invisible to the human eye.

The combination of light sources enables the IIT Cam-era System to capture images of both the plate and the vehicle for ALPR and enforcement purposes. Like IR-only systems, the use of artificial illumination means the IIT Camera System can support 24-hour operation. But by balancing the IR lighting with other wavelengths, the IIT Camera System avoids chromatic aberrations and readability issues that can affect some plates when only IR lighting is used. In addition, the system’s wider spec-trum of lighting supports the use of color cameras for improved enforcement, something that can’t be done well with IR-only systems.

Where’s the ALPR?Perhaps the least important issue when it comes to all-in-one imaging systems is whether the system itself should perform the ALPR step. Most all-in-one imaging systems contain some sort of processing engine (for example, the IIT Camera System includes a PowerPC processor) which can be equipped with ALPR software. The ability to output a compressed JPEG image for enforcement purposes, along with the ALPR results and associated lane data, may be perfect for some installa-tions, depending on the computing infrastructure that is already in place. In other cases, however, it may be pref-erable to simply output the image data to a separate computer system where the ALPR and other back-office functions can all occur. Regardless of the location of the ALPR software, the key to success remains the ability of the imaging system to repeatedly and reliably deliver high quality images showing the plate for ALPR and the scene for use in enforcement.

Putting it all togetherWhen an all-in-one imaging system can deliver the type of performance and image quality described here, it

ALPR

58 www.thinkinghighways.com

The considerable infrastructure of traditional loop-based systems makes them unsuitable for many new ALPR applications

Lasersensors

Noptel Oy, Teknologiantie 2, 90570 Oulu, FinlandTel. +358 8 551 4351, fax +358 8 556 4101, [email protected], www.noptel.fi

For further information, please contact:

NOPTEL – AT THE FOREFRONTOF OPTICAL MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY

Noptel

Noptel's CM30 distance sensorfamily has been developedfor OEM use withproducts for traffic,industrial or portableapplications thatrequire high-speedmeasurements ofpoorly reflecting targets.These devices represent a perfectchoice for intelligent traffic camera triggering,vehicle profiling or speed measurement.

The units are small in size, of low weight and power con-sumption, and are suitable for outdoor use in harsh envi-ronments. They are available in different packagings, andcustomised operation is possible even with smaller volumes.

for traffic control

Applications• LPR camera triggering• Vehicle profile measurement• Vehicle classification• Speed measurement

• Traffic light control• Signal violation control• Criminal vehicle interception• Vehicle detection• Tunnel entrance control

Lasersensors


ALPR

gives roadway operators the freedom to take on a vari-ety of new ITS projects in a fast and cost-effective man-ner. In many cases, these new projects will involve adding ALPR capabilities to an existing transponder-based tolling environment in order to provide new toll-ing options, video-based enforcement, or both.

Take the case of adding several HOT lanes to an exist-ing toll road. The existing transponder infrastructure might be sufficient to handle the tolling, but the addition of a video-based ALPR system might be needed to make sure violators can be identified and dealt with in an enforceable fashion.

Tackling this type of project with a traditional system involving ground loops and other lane controller infra-structure is not only expensive and time consuming, but may prove problematic in dealing with key project requirements – such as the need to constantly reconfig-ure lanes for morning and evening commute flows. The availability of an all-in-one imaging system with reliable triggering and high quality plate/scene capture, offers roadway operators in situations such as these a way to add the ALPR capability they need, quickly and easily, with a maximum of flexibility in deployment.

While it is unlikely that all-in-one imaging systems will ever completely replace more traditional system architectures, they can provide an attractive alternative for many projects. Having this leaner deployment option should help to bring ALPR to an increasing number of ITS applications in the coming years. TH

Frank Long is responsible for Traffic Solutions at JAI, Inc. He can be contacted via email at [email protected],

by calling +1 408 383 0300 or visiting www.jai.com

Systems that capture both plate and scene data are far more effective for enforcement than IR-only systems


Computer Recognition Systems

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USA: Davin Optronics Inc334 Ebenezer Road Knoxville TN 37923t: +1 (865) 769 8010

www.crs-vision.com


Throughout Europe there are hundreds of tunnels totalling several thousand kilometers of under-ground roads.

There are a number of undeniable benefits to tunnels, including a low aesthetic impact on the landscape, they represent a shorter and faster way to traverse a moun-tain and there is less cost involved in developing a new underground route in where above-ground construc-tion could carry geographical and hydrogeological risks.

In the rest of the world the number of tunnels and equivalent underground and undersea projects is con-stantly growing and the maximum length of these new tunnels is increasing thanks to new construction and drilling techniques which are cheap and more efficient.

In the meantime, the number of vehicles on the roads is steadily increasing which makes for a potentially dan-gerous scenario as the roads that they are gradually fill-ing are old and not designed to take that amount of

A new generation of highly intelligent CCTV systems can significantly improve tunnel, bridge and highway security, says NICOLA BARTESAGHI


Intelligent CCTV

A light in the dark...

Castel Firmiano Tunnel (Bolzano - Italy), on Freeway MEBO (SS 38), monitored automatically by Intelligent Cameras.

Climate Change


Intelligent CCTV

traffic. These elements make for a serious problem - think of it as smoking a cigarette over an open canister of petrol.

Unpleasant experiences in the last 10 years have taught us that the risk of acci-dent and damage is growing,the roads are ever more dangerous places to be. When accidents occur in a tunnel, res-cue operations are very difficult in such close environment, adding to the dan-ger. More fuel to the fire, you might say.

Averting disasterTunnels tend not to be equipped with easy and quick escape routes for driv-ers, passengers, vehicles and or transported goods. For these reasons and as a result of disastrous accidents that occurred in tunnels in the 1990s, the regulatory organi-zations, authorities and governments are focusing their

attention in this matter. Still fresh in our collective mem-ories are the scenes of the extremely serious accident and fire which happened in Mont Blanc Tunnel in March 1999. Thirty-nine people died in the inferno which caused an estimated €450m of economic damage. After this accident the tunnel was closed for investigation and repair for almost three years.

The closure of the tunnel also saw an increase in Europe’s transportation costs which had a negative impact on road safety and on pollution levels. It’s fair to say that indirect economic losses of this terrible inci-dent were higher than the direct economic damage of restructuring, repair and modernisation of the tunnel.

Over the past 10 years the technologies have improved but we can not say the same thing about the level of security of existing tunnels. Italy comes botttom of Europe’s tunnel security league table, but in the rest of Europe more than 34 per cent of tunnels do not meet the minimum level of security. It is not just an Italian issue - far from it.

This sad verdict is the result of investigation “EuroTAP 2008” (European Tunnel Assessment Program), a pro-gramme funded by the European Commission that stud-ies and considers the main tunnels of 11 EU countries. Why is this the case? The regulations and standards exist, the technology is there and has been for some time. Is it just a backward market?

Active surveillanceIn the past, the task of incident, accident and event mon-itoring was performed by a single man or a group of control room operators.

In this way the capability to quickly detect a critical event or a dangerous situation is entirely based on a human’s level of attention in that given moment. This highly sensitive activity is managed and influenced by several factors, like the total number of cameras con-nected, total number of monitors, timing of video sequences and numerous other technical factors.

Human limitations complete the rest of this scenario.It was scientifically proven that the level of human atten-tion can decrease by over 90 per cent after less than two hours of static observation of a scene on a monitor.

We can easily imagine what can happen in a control room with a dozen monitors after two or three hours of

activity... and let’s say that this control room is responsible for 1km-long tunnel and it is operational for 24 hours a day. What will be the consequences of natu-ral fatigue in this control room? And, consequently what will be the delay in the detection of an accident or a serious danger?

A bridge too far?Over the past few years, a new genera-tion of CCTV systems has been devel-

oped to respond efficiently to the needs of constant end effective monitoring of traffic and safety of bridges.

Intelligent CCTV cameras, particularly used in the industrial market for safety and quality controls on pro-

“The level of human attention can decrease by over 90 per cent

after less than two hours of static observation”


duction lines, were used to optimise the efficiency of security measures on tunnels, bridges and motorways.

The most interesting applications using these video technologies were realized in northern Italy. In particu-lar, one of these installation presents system character-istics and functionality that are extremely innovative.

The most articulate and efficient CCTV system, in terms of full automation, was projected and installed in the province of Bolzano (BZ), to monitor the tunnels on the highway ME-BO con-necting the city of Bolzano with Merano. Every day this road absorbs a substan-tial volume of traffic,something in the region of 21,000 vehicles daily, com-prising both cars and heavy vehicles and this creates serious security prob-lems. This road had previously been the scene of sev-eral serious accidents.

For this sensitive project it was decided to employ “smart” devices -smart thanks to the in-built processing ability and analysis akin to that of a powerful computer.

This solution has made it possible to increase the number of spots to observe and also to the removal of various operators in the control centres as the need to constantly observe monitors or video terminals has been eradicated.

Thanks to special analysis software installed directly in individual cameras, the same units can remotely make a more accurate and timely decision than those ever done simultaneously by human beings in the control room.

The cost/benefit resulting from this technological approach to the problem of security was unparalleled. A camera never feels tired...


How does the new camera work?The intelligent camera is similar in shape and size to a normal analogue or digital camera used in standard security systems CCTV but, in terms of architecture, functionality and capacity it has very few similarities.

The camera performs the same functions as a power-ful computer, processing data and video analysis. The heart of every smart device is based on a special digital

camera (Italian-made technology) capable of performing the functions of a real computer as it has equivalent func-tionality, capacity and computational power.

Inside each camera is multi-algorithm analysis software able to analyze the images captured by the camera CCD

and immediately identify one or more of the pre-ordained dangerous conditions on the road (for exam-ple a stopped vehicle, smoke, fire, etc). When the presence of a source of risk or an accident is detected, the camera is able to notify, via the network, security personnel at the control room.

The alarm is remotely noted through several means of communication with redundancy: cellular telephone network, radio, connections with dedicated data net-work, Internet and so on.

For example, in cases where a queue of vehicles on the highway has been detected, without any human inter-vention the camera is able to alert drivers on that given section of road by displaying a message on a VMS. The message is also relayed back to the control room simul-taneously.

In more serious cases, for example with the detection of a stopped vehicle, a vehicle driving the wrong way,

“Special analysis software is

installed directly into the cameras”

Intelligent CCTV

Incidents and events are displayed on PCs and video screens, combined with audio alerts. (The faces of the operatives have been obscured deliberately)

fire or smoke, the tunnel’s ventilation systems are auto-matically activated and traffic heading into the tunnel is blocked by way of an emergency red light system. Res-cue calls are simultaneously made to the relevant emer-gency services. The single camera can control all of these applications and services by specific implemen-tation with third sub-system.

Intelligence quotientThere are numerous benefits to intelligent systems:

• Increased effectiveness of algorithms for event analysis of hazards;

• Less video/data traffic over the network with the pos-sibility to use networks with limited bandwidth;

• Reduced complexity of system architectures;• Greater scalability and modularity system;• Greater simplicity and lower cost of networking, even

when integrated with other security sub-systems; • Possibility to record images remotely without degra-

dation of quality; • Interchange of information, signals and commands


between the cameras and peripheral sub-systems (eg traffic lights, display panels, ventilation, lighting, etc)

• All traffic data is digital, in the form of simple IP data packets.

ConclusionPreventing accidents, the faster relief of the subsequent congestion and the reduction of administrative costs to ensure the monitoring of roads, are objectives to which we should all look to achieve, whether it applies to mod-ernising an existing tunnel or planning to build a new tunnel or highway. In Italy in 2003 there were 225,000 accidents, causing the death of 6,000 people, with well over 300,000 suffering injuries of varying severity. We hope that these sad statistics will soon be a thing of the past, in large part due to this intelligent technology.

The only hurdle to overcome now is to convince those that are not able to or do not want to use new technolo-gies to improve the quality of life. This is a very delicate matter worthy of an article of its own... TH

[email protected]

VMS system, installed 5 km before the Castel Firmiano tunnel on the MEBO freeway (SS 38). The signs receive alert messages from the intelligent aameras network via GSM

Screenshot of the PNS Management and Supervision Software: Video alarms and event messages are sent automatically by the camera directly to one or more PC terminals. The POPUP tool ensures priority of alerts and events, also if the screen is busy or other services are running


Stunted growth

Intelligent CCTV


Ace in the holeIntelligent Video Analytics (IVA) has been hailed as the most important new addition to surveillance technology since the CCTV camera was invented. VIBEKE ULMANN looks at how you can future proof the transmission system to allow for optimal value when applying IVA in Traffic Management Solutions

As CCTV is becoming an important tool of choice for traffic management – partially due to “how else do you know what is going on?” - it must be appreciated that the operators in the control rooms are faced with an ever increasing pressure to spot traffic incidents or infringements on large busy CCTV networks with hundreds of cameras streaming live images.

It is further evident that Traffic Management failures inevitably cause congestion. Trying to overcome the problem by expanding the public transport infrastruc-ture demands huge capital investments, whilst investing in an IVA solution conversely only requires marginal investment and rapidly improves the efficiency of the existing infrastructure.

By applying automatic incident detection and real time alerts you enable human operators to react much faster and effectively, allowing them to broadcast and immediately alert emergency services. Hence the impact of an incident can be minimized and secondary incidents may be prevented. In short; significant sav-ings in day-to-day operating costs can be achieved whilst saving lives.

But as with any emerging technology, video analytics is faced with a number of challenges and in some instances even confusion. Just when is the right time to invest? Where should the video analytics be located? How do you gain the most from investing in IVA applica-tions? These are just some of the issues the end users are faced with. Help, thankfully, is at hand.

Expert analysisChris Gomersall, CEO of Ipsotek, a leading UK-based company specialised in the development of Intelligent Video Analytics software and Dr. Alan Hayes, founder and MD of AMG Systems, a world-leading manufacturer of CCTV transmission systems, offer some guidelines with regards to what users should be looking for when

Climate ChangeIntelligent CCTV


considering the implementation of video analytics on existing or new Traffic Management Systems.

Says Gomersall: “Let’s start by looking at where to apply the software. Basically there are 2 options: At the camera point or in the control room. Add to this the con-sideration that good analysis requires maximum video content.

“Video analytics can help to enhance the CCTV oper-ator’s effectiveness by alerting them to events and inci-dents, live as they happen, allowing them to take action quickly to intervene or call the authorities. However, it is vital for the effectiveness of any software solution that the quality of the image is useful for the purpose,

“It is worth pointing out,” he explains, “that the ‘quality of image’ issue not only applies to existing Traffic

Management installations, where an upgrade with video analytics soft-

ware can increase the effi-ciency in terms of using

CCTV images for forensic evi-

dence or simply for easing the traffic flow in case of inci-dents. Likewise, for new projects there is a requirement to ensure that future proofing takes high priority. This becomes even more important because - as has already been pointed out - the push towards IP-based CCTV systems in itself, creates a limitation because of the compression which is introduced to the video signal”.

Compression limits the CCTV usability“It is evident that for systems where pre-event

analysis takes place, either using tradi-tional security operators in a control

room or the more recent pixel based analysis software,

the reduction in

Chris Gomersall, Ipsotek Dr Alan Hayes, AMG Systems

“The push towards IP based CCTV

systems in itself, creates a limitation

because of the compression which is introduced to the

video signal”


video quality caused by compression can severely limit the usability of the CCTV system.”

Dr. Hayes supplements, “Video compression unfortu-nately compromises what you can do. In a highways sys-tem for example it affects traffic management capabilities and others such as security, which is where the market is heading right now. When you compress CCTV images for transmission, you’re essentially throw-ing away low value information. If nothing changes from frame to frame, then a compression-based system will see no reason to re-send an image. If you get motion then you send the changes. Hence with compressed video you get basic motion detection. What you don’t get is pixel-based recognition. This is why Ethernet based solutions need analytics at the camera, not in the control room”.

Adds Gomersall: “The motion detection approach is fine if you can do what you need to when you buy a sys-tem. But it means that upgrades are a problem, because as processing power increases, eventually you will have to upgrade on a per camera basis - and that could poten-tially become a very costly affair”.

Consider the security aspect“Another important consideration from the security aspect is that Ethernet systems can be hacked. When the Ethernet is taken to the roadside, it is possible to break into a system and inject your own feeds - there are actually documents on the internet describing how to do this. Of course you can put firewalls in place but these

Intelligent CCTV


can also be penetrated,” says Dr. Hayes. “It is also worth considering that Ethernet systems require skilled main-tenance distributed to all the remote locations. If the system breaks down, it can take a very long time to get the network up and running again. Further, migrating to next generation you could potentially be looking at a complete swap of remote equipment.

“For the transmission system there is good new,” he says.” Even for large wide area networks it is now possible to use uncompressed digital video transmis-sion, such as implemented on the National Roads Tele-communications Services (NRTS) project by the UK Highways Agency. The project will provide a national digital system linking more than 14,000 roadside devices, including message signs and emergency tele-phones, and up to 4,000 cameras and traffic monitoring systems to the Highways Agency’s network of traffic control centres.

“Whilst primarily designed to provide a road safety monitoring system, NRTS will also give drivers real-time travel information to plan their journeys, and create safer roads, thanks to the nationwide distribution of CCTV footage to travel information and navigation com-panies. This unique transmission technology replicates the capabilities of an Ethernet system and transmits the entire content of the video images back to the control room. It also allows for drop-and-insert of camera sig-nals - as and when required - as well as dual redundancy. It even carries Ethernet which for example could be used for simultaneous retrieval of DVR images or in the

case of the NRTS is used for taking control signals to the roadside positions,” remarks Dr. Hayes.

What do you want it to do?“There is a significant point to be made with regards to what you want the analytics to detect for you,” says Gom-ersall. “This is why we prefer to talk about intelligent video analytic. You can actually program the analytics for each individual camera to track certain behaviour. This allows for simultaneous tracking of different types of activity. For example you can set the IVA for a camera at an intersection to automatically monitor the traffic conditions.

“By analysing the number of vehicles per lane the solution can judge whether to alter traffic light patterns, thereby maximizing vehicle flow and minimizing con-gestion. The data collected can be sent to a central con-trol room or used locally depending on the type of traffic management already in use. “

Gomersall continues: “At the same time you can set the IVA for other cameras to work with different levels of inhibitions that allow for changeable alert thresholds. For example monitoring a loading bay with a stopping threshold of 30 minutes would then only raise an alarm if a vehicle has been stationary for more than 30 minutes. It all helps the operator to focus attention on the most important incidents and dispense with the obviously boring task of having to look at a stationary vehicle in a loading bay for 30 minutes”.

Dr. Hayes concludes, “For ‘observation critical’ infra-structure and security applications, AMG always rec-ommends that the CCTV images are brought back to the control room in uncompressed format. This approach future proofs the CCTV solution and caters for the appli-cation of Intelligent Video Analytics”.

Helpful hintsTraffic Management applications for IVA include:

• Congestion (i.e. stationary or slower than aver-age vehicles);

• Public transport priority (i.e. Changing light signals for buses in bus lanes only);

• Road traffic accidents (i.e. obstructions in high-way/traffic lanes);

• Blocked hard shoulders or breakdowns (or debris on the road surface);

• Un-authorised intrusion into prohibited areas (i.e. vehicles parked in Police bays);

• Pedestrian/cyclist activity (i.e. entering vehicle only tunnel or highway);

• Un-authorised roadwork;


Intelligent CCTV

• Smoke in restricted areas (i.e. tunnels);• Scenario based detection of abnormal behav-

iour patterns (i.e. vehicle changing lanes constantly or people standing on the hard shoulder).

The Video Analytics Check List1. If you are looking to increase the level of sur-

veillance without increasing manpower Video Analytics is a cost effective solution as it allows you to install more CCTV cameras and monitor them without increasing manpower.

2. Video analytics works best on uncompressed video in the control room.

3. Video analytics can often retrofit into existing systems, using existing cameras. Hence it improves the ROI and efficiency of existing CCTV installations.

4. Video analytics is good for camera views where there is little regular activity. It allows an activity to be flagged up for the attention of the operator and thereby reduces the risk of overlooking a “dull” camera point.

5. Intelligent video analytics systems are individu-ally programmable on a per camera basis. This reduces the number of false alarms as the built in intelligence know how to deal with a busy scene.

6. If you have a system which requires monitoring of several events simultaneously, effective analytics sys-tems have an ability to intelligently decide if an alarm should be triggered or not. TH

www.amgsystems.co.ukwww.ipsotek.com

The M4 motorway in the UK. A vehicle in the sterile zone with red bounding box


Stunted growth

Traffic Management

Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways Thinking88 www.thinkinghighways.com.

Grand designsSTEPHEN SLATER looks at how the forthcoming Singapore F1 Grand Prix will impact upon the island’s traffic management system

Climate Change




Even by the standards of motor racing’s premier cat-egory, Formula One, the creation of a brand-new track inside 12 months is ambitious. Yet the organis-ers of the FORMULA 1™ SingTel Singapore Grand Prix which takes place on 28 September, faced an even bigger challenge.

Not only are they carving the track through the centre of one of Asia’s most dynamic cities, without unduly dis-rupting commercial and private travel, they have the added challenge of installing the lighting required for Formula One’s first night race. It is probably one of the toughest traffic management challenges in the world!

Exactly one year before the race, Singapore received in-principle approval from the Fédération Internation-ale de l’Automobile (FIA) on 28 September 2007, for the proposed 5.067km-long street circuit which winds through the Marina Bay area, in the south central seg-ment of the city.

Marina Bay houses some of the most prestigious hotels, one of the biggest shopping malls, the island state’s big-gest single tourist attraction and borders the main com-mercial and government areas. Singapore is a small island, about 30 miles by 20 and Marina Bay also divides the largely residential East of the island and the Changi International Airport from the industrial and docklands hub to the West. In other words, the traffic management around the track would impinge upon the lives of every one of Singapore’s 4.6m inhabitants.

Keeping everything on trackThere are a wide range of agencies across Singapore which involved in the track planning and the infrastruc-ture behind the race. Singapore GP Pte Limited is the company formed to deal with Formula One and handle all promotion and ticketing for the race. The govern-ment agencies involved with the planning for the Grand Prix are co-ordinated, perhaps surprisingly at first sight, by the Singapore Tourism Board.

The STB is however recognised within the Republic as the agency responsible for one of its premier industries, inbound tourism, and is ideally placed to manage the activities of the other bodies which include the Ministry of Trade and Industry, National Parks Board, Land Trans-port Authority, National Environment Agency and the Singapore Police Force.

In the bidding for the event, a number of initial track concepts were created in association with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the other government agen-cies. The detailed architecture and engineering is being handled by Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a Melbourne-based architectural practice. They have lengthy experi-ence of street circuit design going back to the creation of the Adelaide Grand Prix circuit which hosted the Aus-tralian GP in 1987.

With the exception of a 1.2km section of the track which flanks the permanent race control garages, pit lane and starting straight, the rest of the track is con-verted from the city streets. It is however a far cry from the tight confines of Monaco. Singapore is set to be the fastest street circuit in history with sections where cars approach 200mph.


Traffic Management

One of the prime considerations in the creation of the track in the Marina Bay area is that it affords a spectacu-lar backdrop of Singapore’s city skyline, yet impinges less on the major arterial road networks than other loca-tions. While some enthusiasts would have loved to have seen the cars race down Orchard Road, in the commer-cial heart of the city, to do so would have meant weeks of disruption to the main shopping area.

While three of Singapore’s main arterial routes, the Pan-Island Expressway, Central Expressway and East Coast Parkway all feed into the vicinity of the track, none are directly compromised by the creation of the course. The East Coast Parkway, which forms the primary East-West link across the island, sweeps some 40m above the track on a four-lane flyover.

While there is little if any residential property in the immediate vicinity, the area next to the track nonetheless contains no less than five, five-star hotels, the Esplanade national theatre complex, the Singapore Flyer, the world’s largest observation wheel and Suntec City, one of Singa-pore’s premier shopping malls. The organising committee calculate that in this immediate area alone some 5,000 ‘stakeholders’, business and individuals are affected.

“With the circuit located in the heart of town, the needs of the various stakeholders, businesses and hotels in the area have also been considered” said Mr Lim Neo Chian, Deputy Chairman & Chief Executive, Singapore Tour-ism Board, who chairs the Formula One™ Working Com-mittee. “We have initiated a series of meetings with them since last November and will continue this close engage-ment, to prepare for a successful race.”

Life goes on...A key part of this dialogue has been the creation of spe-cial routes into key premises, which will only be closed at the last possible moment. Many of the hotels and the Suntec City shopping mall will still be accessed from roads on the opposite side to the track. Special one-way systems and additional traffic wardens have been allo-cated to ensure as smooth a traffic flow as possible.

The continuous dialogue with the various stakehold-ers in the Marina Centre area has ensured that they are equipped with essential information for the business continuity throughout the race period. There have even been rehearsal days to allow staff and the organisers to check that they can find their way around the revised traffic arrangements.

With some 100,000 spectators due to attend the Grand Prix on each of its three days conges-tion will of course be inevitable. The Singapore Land Transport Authority have the means to control some of this on the roads leading into the city by use of an Expressway Monitoring Advi-sory System (EMAS) and Variable Mes-saging Signs. In addition pamphlets containing a detailed map of the road

closures and diversions have been made available at petrol stations and from information counters across the island.

“Careful planning is required in the lead-up to race day to ready the circuit as well as to ensure that the crowds will be able to access and disperse from the cir-cuit area quickly and safely during race days,” said Mr Yam Ah Mee, Chief Executive of the Land Transport Authority, “We hope that by providing the public with

relevant information on the traffic and transport arrangements for the period, they will continue to patronise the busi-nesses in the area which will continue to operate normally. However they must expect congestion and delays and the best way to travel to the area is to use public transport.”

Singapore fortunately has one of the most sophisticated and mod-ern mass rail transport underground systems in the world. The Grand Prix circuit is served by three stations, which will allow spectators to walk straight from the subways to the entrance gates.

While the planning has being going on, the track has been steadily taking shape, again within strict

Traffic Management

“The traffic management

around the circuit affects Singapore’s 4.6m inhabitants”

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parameters to minimise disruption. An early priority was the laying of a road surface that could combine the smoothness and grip levels required by Formula One, while sufficiently robust to handle everyday traffic.

“The track surface is the place where the car has to run smoothly - it affects grip, it affects the aerodynamic of the car and at the end of the day it affects the perform-ance of the car itself” says Scuderia Ferrari Team Direc-tor, Stefano Domenicali. “That is the reason why it is important and is sometimes difficult to find the right place where we can have races.”

Domenicali was no doubt delighted to discover that it is Ferrari partner Shell that has formulated the surface, laid with Polymer Modified Binder that will offer vehi-cles 20 per cent more grip while having a life of at least five years.

A few small detailsThe track-laying work began in April 2008 and was completed in June. The surfacing was carried out over-night from midnight to 6am, so as not to disrupt the daily traffic. More than 15,000 tonnes of asphalt were laid in that time.

Simultaneously, work was carried out to remove ‘hard kerbs’ and change the profile of corners to suit ‘racing lines’, with low glass reinforced concrete kerbing installed at key points.

At the same time, some 2,000 units of debris fencing and moveable concrete walls have been installed to line the entire track. In order to maintain order in the pre-ceding weeks, the final 530 wall and fence units will only be installed during the week of the race itself, from 22-28 September.

The plan is that following the race, the first barriers


will be removed overnight allowing some semblance of normality on the Monday morning. By the Thursday, all remaining barriers should have been removed and traf-fic will flow normally.

Of course, the one thing that will set the Singapore Grand Prix apart, is its history-making status, as the first-ever night race, run on a floodlit track. The organizers are utilising the top lighting specialist in the field, Vale-rio Maioli S.p.a., of Ravenna, Italy, who comes with exten-sive knowledge spanning over 40 years to create a bespoke state-of-the-art lighting system, using over 1,500 individual projector lamp units.

Setting up a light system in a street circuit involves a number of challenges. To prevent the unnecessary uprooting of trees, the height of the lights would have to be lower than the tree canopy lining the circuit. In addi-tion, because of the limited time-frame to set up the sys-tem, it is impossible to place the cables in underground ducts.

As a result, aluminium trusses, similar to lighting rigs more commonly seem at outdoor rock concerts (see photograph on opposite page), are used to house the power cables. The logistical set up is vast - 108,423m of power cables, 240 steel pylons, with 24 diesel genera-tors feeding a total power requirement of 3,180,000 watts. At 3000 lux levels, the lighting will be four times brighter than sport stadium lights.

Consistency of lighting around the track is main objec-tive - both for the safety of drivers and to ensure the best viewing quality for a worldwide television audience. Unlike a conventional football stadium which shines the lights from high towers, the low-mounted projector lamp system minimises glare and reflections from a wet sur-face or spray. TH

Traffic Management

Surveillance


Detect and surviveJEAN-HUBERT WILBROD looks at traffic surveillance on rural highways and in particular the comprehensive and sustainable approach of Lannion-Guingamp in France

Until recently rural highways have often been overlooked when it comes to implement ITS serv-ices. However, in Brittany, the regional authority the Conseil Général des Côtes d’Armor has decided to equip a 26 km stretch of motorway with a compre-hensive traffic surveillance system combining inci-dent detection and user information.

The challenge is to deliver a high level of service, complete coverage, fast installation, environmental con-cern and cost effectiveness. This project has been driven by a combination of local traffic considerations, of a regional concern for innovative technologies suitable to medium traffic arterials, and of a national concern for ghost driver detection.

Setting the sceneThe RD 767 is a road that links Lannion, capital city of the French telecommunication industry and the motorway network connecting Brittany and France.

This road section is a typical example of the national and regional trunk road network. The site is character-ized from a traffic standpoint by free access to the road (no tolling), home to work traffic peaks, high density of junctions and the coexistence of local and through-traf-fic. Most exits are by way of a roundabout where con-fused drivers can easily head down the wrong side of the road and cause a serious accident. Regarding the infrastructure standpoint, no electricity is available along the road and very few access points to the wired communication network exist.

In accordance with the Conseil Général des Côtes d’Armor’s goal of providing drivers with a high level of service, variable message signs (VMS) will display real-

Climate ChangeSurveillance


time information regarding congestion, incidents and ghost drivers. Police and fire departments will be warned automatically in case of incident. Their reaction times are expected to decrease significantly.

Another objective is to evaluate operational traffic management at the local authority level. Moreover, the requirements consist of on one hand in environmental impact minimization and on the other hand in the dimi-nution of the traffic restrictions due to road works. Last but not least, cost effectiveness must reflect the expec-tation of a high benefit/cost ratio.

Based on the use of break-through technologies (audio and video) this service provides with automatic alerts that can trigger rescue services or maintenance services when necessary. A link to the improvement of assistance services linked to eCall functions is also expected as in case of accident the surveillance of the road will complete the information provided by the eCall service. These new services move from a mini-mum set of data to full set of data.

A passing phaseThe RD 767 is accessed via two roundabouts and 13 interchanges. Several lay-bys are provided on the hard shoulder. Two inductive loops are already installed and provide traffic information for planning purposes. They are the only native connecting points to the electricity network.

One of the loops is wired to the telecom network. On the whole section, 56 detecting units are being installed in two phases. They are fixed on the top of 12m high poles which are placed aside the road at a distance of 2-10m.

“This road section is a typical example of the French national and regional trunk

road network”

In order to avoid further installation of safety barriers, the poles have been mainly located on the embank-ment. The detecting units will be located where inci-dents are expected to occur most frequently: near slip roads, lay-bys and parking areas.

Depending on installation and functional constraints, poles are separated by a distance varying from 200 to 780m. A set of 17 VMS are placed along the section, both in the median strip and at the side the road.

Form and functionThe system offers very comprehensive functions cover-ing detection, traffic management and information. Regarding traffic measurement, information is provided on flow, speed, occupancy and car/truck classification. Concerning incidents, it covers congestion, vehicles stopped on lanes, objects left on lanes, vehicles on the hard shoulder and the aforementioned ghost driver detection. On demand, or upon incident, the system delivers pictures of the road and nearly all of the road layout is visible from the traffic management centre.

Both the Conseil Général des Côtes d’Armor Traffic Management Centre and the police department receive the information and one may control the system, the other may consult it. Special care has been taken to ghost driver detection management. Upon detection, the set of VMS ahead of the offender and the regular drivers are illuminated but as the ghost driver continues the “downstream” VMS are switched off. The police and the TMC are warned and a set of photographs of the offender is allocated to the warning.

If necessary an alert phone call is issued. In the case of an incident, VMS are switched on after qualification by traffic managers. All incidents and ghost drivers are recorded, while traffic measurement data feed an exist-ing traffic tool.

Solar panels and wireless beaconsThe technical solution is based on Neavia’s wireless sur-veillance system. It consists of a set of 52 beacons hav-ing detecting functions and a set of 17 VMS. These are connected to the chain thanks to 15 communicating beacons.

Each beacon communicates with its neighbour with radio waves at 868MHz. This license-free band enables low bit rate communication at low cost. This chain of beacons is linked to the fixed telecom network by an ADSL access point and is linked to the public wireless by three GPRS modems. All collected information feeds into a database which is accessed by internet servers. One is dedicated to the traffic management centre of Conseil Général des Côtes d’Armor, another is dedi-cated to the police and a third is dedicated to technical maintenance.

Each beacon is also a detecting device. In order to achieve a good performance, a solution combining var-ious technologies has been selected. A set of eight microphones enables traffic measurement - vehicle sound variation is analyzed after spatial and spectral fil-tering. A set of three video sensors is used both for inci-dent detection and ghost driver detection. They combine

Surveillance



Surveillance

redundancy and a “no dead zone” operation.All this hardware is powered by a single solar panel,

mounted on the pole. If the two ADSL accesses are left aside, there is no cabled power-feeding or wired com-munication in the system. These features provide a much easier installation. Each VMS consists of one fixed sign associated to two lines of eight programmable charac-ters and the signs are solar-powered.

VMS and remote internet accessThe layout of the system was defined paying great atten-tion to the coverage. The first phase included two addi-tional beacons. Each exit and each lay-by is monitored by one or two beacons. The maximum distance between beacons is 790m.

The system installation began in June 2008. Poles are installed with previously mounted supports. Then, bea-cons and solar panels are mounted and on the first day of installation the inexperienced mounting team com-pleted four beacons: a single lane temporally closed, no trench in the road, no cable to bury,

After communication tests, the first operational tests performed were ghost driver detection and warning. Those tests required to completely close the road on the direction under test. Each test consisted of a vehicle driving the wrong way at different speeds and over dif-ferent lanes. Proper detection, VMS activation and alarm transmission to the TMC were checked. After some ini-tial adjustment, 100 per cent detection (in both day and night conditions) was achieved.

And finallyThe other part of the tests concerned Automatic Inci-dent Detection. The same test protocol was used: a vehi-cle stopped in the middle of a lane, then VMS activation check, alarm transmission check, picture reception check. Successful detection was observed up to 200m and the quality of picture is easily good enough for inci-dent qualification.

The last part of the evaluation concerned remote traf-fic management. All traffic data is sent every minute to the internet database. Each beacon is represented on the map by coloured segments and handles. Clicking on the segment displays the vehicle count, speed and classification. Clicking on the handle triggers a picture on the selected beacon. Time-stamped alarms are also displayed in red.

The implementation of this system will be completed at the end of 2008. In the meantime, long-term evalua-tion covering all aspects of the system is being carried out. Hence, the good results obtained only a few days after installation indicate that a comprehensive surveil-lance of rural highways is really feasible.

A high level of service and complete coverage can be combined with fast installation, sustainable develop-ment and cost effectiveness. TH

Jean-Hubert Wilbrod is president and director general of Neavia. He can be contacted via email at

[email protected] or visit the website at www.neavia.com


Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a

Stunted growth

Funding & Finance


Reality Czech

MARGARET PETTIT focuses on the Czech Republic’s and

Slovakia’s Regional Transport Programmes for 2007-2013

The Czech Republic certainly has a large pro-gramme for 2007-2013, with the largest EU-funded transport budget (after Poland) within the EU.

In both the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the opportu-nities for ITS appear to be considerable. In the areas of interest to ITS there is a total EU-funded budget (85 per cent) for the two countries of €7.8 billion for the whole of the road transport spectrum, with over €5.3 billion for the Czech Republic and nearly €2.5 billion for Slovakia, with the Governments providing additionally 15 per cent. However, there is no apparent indication of a spe-cific budget for the ITS sector.

It is planned to build and upgrade 2,100 kms of road infrastructure during 2007-2013 (and that figure does not include the amount under the Czech Trans-port Operational Programme, which has not yet been specified). This involves the TENs, express-ways, motorways, as well as first, second and third class roads. Improving tourism infrastruc-ture is a particular feature throughout the two countries.

Contact with the Managing Authorities should be made to obtain details on specific projects. Full details of EU funding follows; however, for easy reference, a brief sum-mary is presented at the end.

CZECH REPUBLIC Among the EU-funded allocations there are eight oper-ational programmes of interest: the Transport Opera-tional Programme and seven Regional Operational Programmes for 2007-2013.

Together they total around €5.326 billion of EU funds for the road sector (roughly the same amount will be provided for the rail sector). However, although there is no indication of the budget for ITS, opportunities surely exist.

These programmes will provide 85 per cent funding, being co-funded by the European Regional Develop-ment Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund, with the remaining 15 per cent being provided by the Government.

Transport Operational Programme Following on from Thinking Highways’ article on the Czech Republic (Vol. 2 No.1, 2007) by Ivan Fencl of the Transport Research Centre, Brno, this Operational Programme should present various opportunities for ITS. Sections of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) road network are outdated, express-ways and motorways need upgrading and Class I roads are becoming increasingly con-gested. The aim is to intro-duce new management methods and advanced transport technologies on

the TENs. The Trans-

Climate Change





Funding & Finance

Regional Operational ProgrammesThe eight regional programmes focus on transport accessibility, urban and local regeneration, develop-ment of tourism and its infrastructure and rural improve-ments. The priorities of interest are listed here.

City of Prague Region The main objective of the Operational Programme is

to facilitate Prague’s development and upgrade its com-petitiveness through more efficient exploitation of its potential in transport infrastructure, IT, environment and innovation. Improving and modernising transport infra-structure is one of the priorities and details follow.

Transport Accessibility and ICT Development (€87m EU contribution)

This priority will fulfil the programme’s first and sec-ond specific objectives by improving accessibility of transportation and improving telecommunications services.

Managing Authority: City of Prague, Department of EU funds, Jungmannova 35/29, CZ- Praha. Director, Patrícia Tiso Ferulíková. Tel.: + 420 2 360 02 552. E-mail: [email protected].

Moravia Silesia Regional infrastructure and accessibility (€289m EU con-tribution)This will support the upgrade of transport infrastructure, the infrastructure of crisis management and transport serviceability in the region. 10 km of new roads will be constructed and 200 km will be renovated.

Managing Authority: Regional Council of the Moravia Silesia region. Director: David Sventek, Hrabákova 1/ 1861, 702 00 Moravská Ostrava, Tel.: + 420 552 303 500 E-mail: [email protected] or web www.rr-moravskoslezsko.cz

Central MoraviaTransport (€255m EU contribution)Transport infrastructure inside the region will be linked to the national and the TEN-T network by modernising the regional network of second and third class roads. Public transport services will be improved by moderni-sation and integration of particular types of transport. Overall, 14 km of new roads will be constructed and 118 km will be renovated.

Managing Authority: Regional Council of the Central Moravia region. Director: Ivan Matulík, Jeremenkova 1211/40b, 779 00 Olomouc Tel.: + 420 587 333 301, E-mail: [email protected] or webwww.nuts2strednimorava.cz

Central Bohemia Transport (€233m EU contribution)To increase the accessibility of backbone communica-tion networks from Central Bohemian areas serviced by class II and III roads and to increase the interconnection among individual sub-regions, unsatisfactory sections of regional roads will be reconstructed and modern-ised. 20 km of new roads will be constructed and 200 km roads will be renovated.

Managing Authority: Regional Council of the Cohe-


port Programme includes the following four priorities.Construction and Upgrading of Motorways and Roads in

the TEN-T Network (€1.60bn EU contribution) This priority will construct new sections of the motor-

way and road network, replacing outdated sections of the TEN-T road network, and improving parameters of existing segments of motorways and roads in the TEN-T network. Support will also be given to upgrading and developing motorways and expressways administered by the Czech Road and Motorway Directorate of the Ministry of Transport.

Improving Transport on Class I Roads outside of the TEN-T Network (€1.05bn EU contribution)

Apart from the TEN-T road network, inter-regional road connections represent a significant part of the transport system. There are still many problems on Class I roads with new roads continually being built and bring-ing increased traffic volumes. Therefore, in addition to improving the parameters of the existing sections, ring roads around towns and villages will be built where needed.

Upgrading and Development of the Prague Under-ground and Systems for Managing Road Transport in the City of Prague (€330m EU contribution)

The construction of a system for managing and regu-lating urban road traffic needs to be carried out as a way of optimising the throughput of junctions on the City of Prague’s main road network. The construction of new Underground sections also falls under this priority.

Support for Multimodal Freight Transport and Develop-ment of Inland Waterway Transport (multi-modal trans-port component circa €60m EU contribution).

The area of possible interest here is the support for multi-modal transport systems, including combined trans-shipment stations.

Managing Authority of the Transport Operational Programme: Ministry of Transport: Tomas Cocek, Náb-rezí L. Svobody 12, CZ-110 15 Praha 1.Tel: +420 225 131 103; Fax.: +420 225 131 560.E-mail.: [email protected].


sion Region Central Bohemia, Director: Marek Kupsa, Zborovská 11, CZ 150 21 Praha 5. Tel: +420 257 280 642; Fax: +420 257 280 643. Email: [email protected]. Web:www.nuts2strednicechy.eu

South-West Accessibility of centres (€276m EU contribution)The objective of this priority is to improve the transport accessibility of regional centres to other municipalities and towns within the region. In synergy with the Trans-port Operational Programme, the regional transport infrastructure will be connected to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). 20 km of new roads will be constructed and 200 km will be renovated.

Managing Authority: Regional Council of the Cohesion Region South West. Director: Jirí Trnka, Jeronýmova 1750/21, CZ 370 01 Ceské Budejovice. Tel: +420 389 058 601, Email: [email protected]. Web: www.rr-jihozapad.cz

South-EastTransport accessibility (€345m EU contribution)The objective is to strengthen transport accessibility and public transport services in the region in line with sustainable development. The programme will support construction or renovation of 270 km of second and third class roads.

Managing Authority : Regional Council of the Cohe-sion Region South East. Director: Marta Sargánková, Kounicova 271, CZ 602 00 Brno. Tel.: +420 532 193 500; Fax: +420 532 193 599. Email: [email protected] or web: www.jihovychod.cz

North-West Urban regeneration and development (€297m EU contribution)This concentrates on support to urban areas in the region - development poles and medium and small-sized towns. The priorities are revitalisation and regen-eration of towns and increasing the supply and quality of the infrastructure.

This programme will provide for 20 km of new roads to

Funding & Finance


be constructed and 130 km to be renovated.Accessibility and transport service ability (€253m EU

contribution)The objective is to focus on improvement of the con-

nection of the region to surrounding areas securing effi-cient internal interconnection and its efficient transport accessibility particularly by public transport.

Managing Authority: Regional Council of the North-West region. Director: Petr Vráblík, Mírové námestí 3097/37, 400 01 Ústí nad Labem. Tel.: + 420 477 011 701; Fax: +420 477 011 752. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.nuts2severozapad.cz

North-EastDevelopment of transport infrastructure (€243m EU con-tribution)The aim of the priority is to improve regional road and air transport infrastructure, particularly its backbone network, including the infrastructure of international public airports, and to improve transport serviceability across the region, in line with environmental protection adhering to the principles of sustainable development. This programme will provide for 30 km of new roads to be constructed and 120 km to be renovated.

Managing Authority: Regional Council of the North-East region. Director: Zdenek Semorád, Velké námestí 1, 500 03 Hradec Králové. Tel.: + 420 495 510 177; Fax: +420 495 518 719. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.rada-severovychod.cz

SLOVAKIA Here, there are three operational programmes of inter-est: the Transport Operational Programme and two Regional Operational Programmes for 2007-2013. One of the regional programmes covers Western, Central and Eastern regions and the other is for the Bratislava region. The Bratislava Regional Operational Programme may offer some opportunity for ITS, being focussed on public transport and ICT. The EU input for these pro-grammes will provide 85 per cent funding, with the Transport Programme being co-funded by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, and the remaining 15 per cent being provided by the Slovak Government. The Slovak Regional Programmes, however, will be funded by ERDF, not by the Cohesion Fund.

Together all three operational programmes total €2.488 billion. Of this, about €1.7 billion is for the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) and other road infrastructure. There are also small amounts for inter-modal transport and integrated urban transport sys-tems, as well as regeneration of settlements and tourism infrastructure.

Opportunities for ITS should exist on first-class roads and in rural zones, towns and urban conurbations to mit-igate growing traffic volumes and increasing accident rates.

Transport Operational Programme The Transport Operational Programme has a total EU-funded budget (85 per cent) of nearly €2.3 billion for road transport infrastructure, co-funded by ERDF and

the Cohesion Fund, with 15 per cent additionally being provided by the Government. With major transport infrastructure lagging behind compared to other EU Member States, Slovakia needs to concentrate on the further development of highways and expressways, improvements to public inter-modal terminals, public transportation, and the challenges of climate change.

The overall objective of the Programme therefore is to support sustainable mobility through the development of transport infrastructure and the improvement of pub-lic passenger transport. The measures will contribute to the interconnectivity of the Slovak regions and an improved access to the TEN-T. The Transport Pro-gramme aims to construct 170 km of new highways, expressway and first-class roads.

The Transport Operational Programme has the follow-ing four priorities:

Road infrastructure TEN-T (€972m EU contribution)This priority aims to contribute to the construction of

new motorways regarding access to the TENs. This will have a significant impact on the accessibility to the major European road network, road safety and road quality.

Under the previous tranche of EU funding, the D2 motorway from Czech Republic to Bratislava, part of the European Corridor IV, should have been completed in 2007. This programme aims to construct new sections on motorways D1 and D3 leading to the expansion of the motorway network to the East and North of the country.

Road infrastructure (expressways and first-class roads) (€741m EU contribution)

The objective of the further development of express-ways and first-class roads is to contribute to the improve-ment of national road infrastructure. This will contribute to eliminating critical bottlenecks in terms of traffic vol-umes and road accidents.

Regarding expressways, the programme will con-struct sections of roads R1, R2 and R4. It will complete


route R1 Trnava – Banská Bystrica and remove black spots on R2. On R4, construction of section Košice to the state border of Slovak Republic with Hungary will be carried out.

Inter-modal transport infrastructure (€103m EU contri-bution)

This will contribute to a network of public inter-modal terminals, developing environmentally friendly trans-port systems.

Infrastructure for integrated transport systems (€472m EU contribution)

This priority aims to integrate railway transport into urban transport systems.

Managing Authority of the Transport Operational Programme: Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecom-munications - Bratislava, Slovakia. Contact details: Mr Dušan Rizek, Námestie Slobody 6, PO Box 100, SK-810 05 Bratislava, Slovakia. Tel: +421 259494111; Fax: +421 252494794. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.telecom.gov.sk

Funding & Finance

Funding & Finance


Regional Operational ProgrammesBratislava RegionThe Operational Programme for the Bratislava Region will be co-funded by the ERDFThe principal objectives of the Bratislava Regional Pro-gramme are: (1) to increase the attractiveness of the region through sustainable improvement of the quality and standard of settlements and the quality of the public transport; (2) to support the competitiveness of the region through supporting the innovations and access to information and communication technology (ICT), mainly for SMEs.

The only priority of likely interest is the following small one for Infrastructure.

Infrastructure (€46m EU contribution)This plans to address urban issues in about three urban areas of the Bratislava region experiencing or threat-ened by physical deterioration. The Infrastructure pri-ority covers regional and urban public transport.

Managing Authority: Ministry of Construction and Regional Development – Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Contact details: Ms Renáta Pecová, Director, Prievozská 2/B, SK-825 25 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Tel.: + 421 2 5831 7510; Fax: + 421 2 5831 7585. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.build.gov.sk or www.strukturalnefondy.sk.

Western, Central and Eastern SlovakiaThis wide-ranging Programme, through ERDF, aims to improve regional infrastructure. The measures will address: tourism infrastructure; regeneration of settle-ments; and regional and local roads. The Programme will provide for the reconstruction and modernisation of civil infrastructure facilities, the regeneration of about 380 settlements and the reconstruction of approximately 600 km of regional roads.

The only priority of interest throughout this Regional Operational Programme is:

Regional roads (€153m EU contribution)This will involve reconstructing and modernising sec-ond and third class regional roads; reconstructing and developing transport sub-systems that increase trans-port safety; interconnections to improve mobility of people and goods and reduce deficiencies in the road network.

Managing Authority: Ministry of Construction and Regional Development of Slovakia, Bratislava. Contact details: Mr Radoslav Behúl, Prievozská 2/B, SK-825 25 Bratislava, Slovakia. Tel: +421 2 5831 7473; Fax: +421 2 5831 7583. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.build.gov.sk and programme web page: www.strukturalnefondy.sk. TH

[email protected]

Summary of EU funding

Operational Programme (OP) Priority and EU Contribution of 85%

CZECH REPUBLIC 2007-2013Transport OP: Improving Transport on Class I Roads outside the TENs (€1.05bn) Construction & Upgrading of Motorways & Roads in the TENs (€1.60bn)

Upgrading and Development of the Prague Underground and Systems for Managing Road Transport in City of Prague (€330m) Support of Multi-modal Freight Transport c. €60m)Regional OPs: City of Prague Region - Transport Accessibility and ICT Development (€87m) Moravia Silesia - Regional infrastructure and accessibility (€289m) Central Moravia - Transport (€255m) Central Bohemia - Transport (€233m) South-West - Accessibility of centres (€276m) South-East - Transport accessibility (€345m) North-West - Urban regeneration and development (€297m) - Accessibility and transport service ability (€253m) North-East - Development of transport Infrastructure (€243m)

SLOVAKIA 2007-2013Transport OP: Road infrastructure TEN-T (€972m) Road infrastructure (expressways and first-class roads) (€741m) Inter-modal transport infrastructure (€103m) Infrastructure for integrated transport systems (€472m)Regional OPs: Bratislava Region - Infrastructure (€46m) Western Slovakia, Central Slovakia and Eastern Slovakia - Regional roads (€153m)

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