Traffic plan to cope with tram works

14 March 2007

City of Edinburgh Council is installing a £2M ‘state-of-the-art’ traffic management system to deal with congestion and traffic disruption caused by major road works while the city’s tram is being built.
The integrated urban traffic management and control system (UTMC) will play a key role in easing traffic flows, while alerting the public to alternative routes during the construction of Edinburgh’s £700M tram project.
Once ministers approve the business case, the council will commence its multi-utilities contract (MUDFA) with Tie, which will manage all the utilities works at the same time. Once that is complete, Infrastructure Company (INFRACO) will build the tramway infrastructure.
‘Both MUDFA initially, and then INFRACO, will cause major disruption throughout the city, and that’s something that will have to be very carefully managed,’ the council’s traffic services manager Jim Grieve said.
‘It can’t be a blanket view of the actual tram route. It has to be a much wider view, in order to deal with the effects on traffic of the works as they go ahead.’
The technology will update the council’s current SCOOT optimisation system, where signal time is conveyed depending on traffic demand, and replacing it with integrated real-time traffic signal systems and parking guidance systems, as well as introducing variable message signs.
‘At the hub of all that is a database, which allows us to communicate in real time throughout the city. We can alter signal timings to deal with a particular pressure on a particular part of the network,’ Grieve said. A control room with feeds from CCTV cameras will be able to view the network, and various systems can feed into the database, including the ability to control signal times remotely.
The council is also introducing a web-based service that can alert people to problem spots on their journey, so they can plan another route. The service is expected to be operating in a couple of months.
‘It’s important, timing-wise, to coincide with the start of the tram works. We will be able to use the new technology to optimise the use of the network,’ Grieve added.
The UTMC was a ‘long-term system that we need and now must have’. It would be mostly funded by the South-East of Scotland Transport Area (SEStran), outside of the tram’s actual budget.

Register now for full access

Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.

Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors. Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.

Already a registered? Login

Sign In

Traffic plan to cope with tram works

order biaxin tablets

buying biaxin

ordering clarithromycin

Register now for full access

Login