Data at the heart of managing roadway infrastructure

A new take on the urban motorway

When a region has for decades anticipated road traffic congestion, and when the signs of this urban “thrombosis” begin to pile up, the entire economic ecosystem and life balance in the city are put at risk.In this context, the relaunch of a past project to create a connection between to existing motorways requires us to look at the project not through the eyes of a builder by rather through those of an expert in urban functions and the benefits for citizens. What are the rules for placing the roadway at the heart of a citizen project?

Rule no. 1: identify the “functions” of the motorway connection.

Its function is not to connect point A to point B. Rather, its function is to reduce travel time between these two points from 45 minutes to 10 minutes. It is to save residents time. Its second function is to reduce the rate of accidents and thus its economic and social costs. third and in no way “contradicting” function is to reduce the region’s carbon footprint and to relieve residents of the inconveniences caused by the existing connections. final function is to reclaim space by creating new surfaces for urban infrastructure on the covered portions of the connection.

Rule no. 2: collect measurable data for each function.

Socio-economic studies have been launched to assess how the infrastructure will impact the local economy (economic cost of traffic jams, benefits of facilitating access to activity hubs), to assess the effects of lowering the accident rate (motorways are less prone to accidents for an equivalent amount of traffic than secondary routes), to identify the environmental benefits relating to the reduced emissions for steady traffic (estimated 100,000 vehicles daily driving 10 minutes rather than 45) or to the treatment of run-off water on the connection (versus the same polluting traffic on the secondary roads without the same treatment).

Finally, to reduce noise pollution, more than 50% of the connection will be covered, like for example, the L2 in Marseille. This covering, on the one hand, helps to maximise traffic flow with the addition of connections on top of the covered connection, or on the other hand, provides a surface for new urban developments that are important to residents, such as parks or sports equipment.

Rule no. 3: monitor the project.

A motorway cannot be left to function on its own. It must be monitored and the traffic observed in order to take necessary action and guarantee the safety of users in the event of an accident of traffic jam. This monitoring is enabled via a range of technical systems that make it possible to operate and control equipment for traffic data collection, video-surveillance, accident detection, and dynamic signage, to name just a few. Other systems ensure the safety of property and people in the tunnels, including equipment for ventilation, route closure, or air quality monitoring.

To ensure the optimal use of the infrastructure, all of these technical systems are controlled via a hypervision system responding to the operator’s specific needs and to the functions of the motorway connection.Today’s motorway connection is thus an information system equipped with tools for the collection, reporting, processing and recovery of data. Additional tools to assist with decision-making, operational and management procedures will help to control traffic, its flow and its re-routing to alternative connections.

Rule no. 4: anticipate.

Ensure the functions are founded on upstream forward thinking, in other words on the definition and implementation of standardised operations. In the event of an accident, the operator is alerted by a video or message on an alert screen. These alerts automatically trigger recommended action plans to be executed by all the other systems according to the operator’s decision: changing speed limit signage, turning on traffic lights and lane assignment signs, displaying messages on the light-up boards, sharing information over the radio, closing access barriers, extracting smoke, etc.

Rule no. 5: integrate technology and urban life.

A connection one component of a larger network. The motorway connection communicates about and with the routes that supply its traffic. For example, oversized vehicles are detected using a laser device and cameras placed along the connections upstream. Once the oversized vehicle has been detected and its license plate read, services are alerted, and a message is displayed on the board, indicating the license plate number and requesting the vehicle to exit. If the driver continues along the route, a second detection point will prompt the display of a second message demanding the mandatory exit and guiding the vehicle to a dedicated parking area. An identical protocol is applied to vehicles transporting hazardous waste.

The urban motorway connection is often linked to the city road network. The intermediary entrances/exits are supplied and relieved by traffic-light junctions, also in the hands of the control station.An urban motorway connection is of course reserved for vehicles and motorcycles; sustainable transport methods are excluded. However, once the covered sections are in place, this will create a number of opportunities for building bike paths and wide pedestrian pavements. The transformation of traffic-lights junctions into connected interchanges will once again give the right of way to public transport such as tramways and buses.