Following the successful completion of an initial programme in the south east of England, Siemens Mobility Limited has been awarded a new contract by Highways England (HE) to both upgrade and expand its collaborative traffic management (CTM) solution to other regions.
The new programme is designed to deliver benefits to road users by focusing on the joint design and operation of traffic signals at key junctions; enabling local highway authorities and other key stakeholders to work together much more collaboratively. By digitally upgrading traffic signals to operate on cloud-based technology and so increase the visibility of their operation, local and strategic road networks can work seamlessly together. To support this, Siemens Mobility will be introducing a completely new user interface, UTC-UX, with access to a new suite of tools to manage traffic signals on the trunk road network in the south east. Linking the new interface into the company’s urban traffic control (UTC) system, this delivers an easy to use, intuitive system that operates directly from a web browser.
The same system will also be deployed in a region covering Yorkshire and the north east. This means that by the start of 2020, over 260 traffic signal sites will be controlled and monitored by the system across both regions. The UTC-UX system will provide real-time adaptive traffic control using SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique) for many of the junctions around HE’s regions. Connected to the network’s traffic signals at junctions and crossings, the system collects data from on-street detectors to optimise the flow of traffic at controlled junctions and so reduce delays to drivers.
As part of the upgrade, Siemens will also be introducing traffic, fault, asset and strategy management tools, all of which will enable the traffic management team to identify and deal with faults quickly, effectively and safely, with hotspot congestion targeted and managed. The complete solution is provided by Siemens as managed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), from a resilient high-availability data centre, providing HE with a reliable and efficient urban traffic control system, and users of the agency’s strategic road network (SRN) with an improved journey experience.
“We’re delighted to have been awarded this contract by Highways England, not only to continue with the work in the south east, but to extend the collaboration to new areas,” said Wilke Reints, managing director of Siemens Mobility’s intelligent traffic systems business unit in the UK. “Using UTC-UX and increased digitalisation, we are enabling organisations like Highways England to make their networks and infrastructure more intelligent and ultimately, to deliver an enhanced experience for road users.”
Andrew Wilson, HE’s team leader for ITS in the south east, said, “We look forward to working with Siemens Mobility in a collaborative environment to further drive our ability to integrate with our external partners and drive for better value and service to our customers.”
