Spanish systems integration and technology company SICE (Sociedad Ibérica de Construcciones Eléctricas) is expanding its presence in Australia with the award of a new contract to supply a tunnel and motorway management system on Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel Project.
The CPB Contractors and John Holland Joint Venture has awarded SICE a contract for the design, construction, control center installation and commissioning of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and a managed tunnel/motorway system based on SICE’s SIDERA software platform for the West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne.
The West Gate Tunnel Project is a city-shaping project that will deliver a vital alternative to the West Gate Bridge, provide quicker and safer journeys, and remove thousands of trucks off residential streets.
The project will include:
• Widening the West Gate Freeway from eight to 12 lanes and include express lanes between the M80 and the West Gate Bridge, reducing weaving and merging that leads to traffic congestion;
• A tunnel from the West Gate Freeway to the Maribyrnong River and the Port of Melbourne, which will take motorists and trucks underground and off residential streets, providing a more efficient freight route;
• A bridge over the Maribyrnong River, linking to an elevated road along Footscray Road that will get people to where they need to go in the CBD (Central Business District) north.
SICE will deliver a state-of-the-art motorway and tunnel control system based on its SIDERA platform. The system has been selected for the project as it has proved to be a reference solution in numerous freeway and tunnel management deployments worldwide, including the WestConnex tunnels in Sydney.
For the Melbourne project, the SIDERA platform will provide a managed motorway system across the region, offering the monitoring and 24/7 real-time traffic management of the network, including, but not limited to, the use of traffic counting devices, lane use signs, variable speed limit signs, variable message signs (VMS), automatic incident detection (AID), CCTV coverage, ramp metering, over-height vehicle management, and incident response management.
Combined, these systems will automatically manage traffic congestion and incidents and regulate traffic flow entering the freeway, and will be able to close lanes for safety or redirect traffic as required.
The platform will also operate an OMCS (Operations Management and Control Systems) system that will control the entire traffic and plant devices in the West Gate Tunnel. In addition, SIDERA will include the full operational integration of the Citilink freeway, Burnley and Domain tunnels with the West Gate tunnels, as well as a robust integration to the VicRoads transportation agency’s systems to achieve full coordinated traffic management results. SICE will be also responsible for the design, procurement and commissioning of ITS systems that include:
• Communication network;
• PLC network;
• Vehicle detection;
• Variable message signs;
• Lane usage signs;
• Variable speed limit signs;
• Tunnel message signs;
• CCTV system;
• Boom gates control;
• Over-height vehicle detection system;
• Motorway emergency telephone system;
• Fire emergency telephone system;
• Radio rebroadcasting system;
• Public address system.
The entire project is expected to be completed in 2022.
