ROSETTA Project REPORT ON: The State of the Art on. Road Network Management in Italy. TTS-Italia (B. Pani, O. Landolfi, T. Bozzo) Date:

Transcription

1 ROSETTA Project REPORT ON: The State of the Art on Road Network Management in Italy Authors: TTS-Italia (B. Pani, O. Landolfi, T. Bozzo) Date:

2 1. The Italian situation: General Overview The road network in Italy is managed at five levels: Toll motorways and tunnels, managed by private companies (km 5.593) Free motorways, freeways and free roads, managed by State (km ), through the State Authority (ANAS); Provincial roads Urban and non-urban Municipal roads. Consequently, Municipalities manage not only the urban system but also non-urban roads in their districts. The Public Authority which manages the free National road network (ANAS) also has to control the private companies managing the toll motorway network. There are no standardisation rules regarding the technological equipment or System Architectures, nor Authorities in charge of these tasks: Private Companies managing toll motorways have their own association (AISCAT) where they study common strategies for the overall management of problems. They are also directly represented, or through their Associations (AISCAT, TTS Italia), in various standardisation authorities, Projects, Forum, International Congresses. The simple management of traffic information at National level is coordinated and managed by the CCISS ( Centro Coordinamento Informazioni Sicurezza Stradale ), which is constituted of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, RAI (Italian Television Broadcasting), AISCAT and the Road Police. The technological equipment for traffic data detection and network monitoring, for the collection of weather data, and the management of information (data acquisition and their exploitation), mainly concerns: The toll motorway network and main National Highways The wide urban areas, as far as specific problems related to their competence are concerned (traffic light regulation, pollution monitoring) On the basis of such considerations, the Italian situation can be summarised as follows: 2. The CCISS The CCISS ( Centro Coordinamento Informazioni Sicurezza Stradale - National Information and Road Safety Coordination Centre) is the official Authority responsible for gathering and broadcasting radio information through the National broadcasting network (RAI). The CCISS was set up during the 1990 Soccer World Cup, with the aim of coordinating the following activities: -collection, processing and selection of information regarding road and traffic conditions on the whole Italian road network; -distribution and diffusion of news concerning traffic flows and safety; Page 2 di 16

3 elaboration and realisation of advertising campaigns on road safety. The CCISS is coordinated by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and is structured as shown in fig.1. Ministry of Public Works and Transportation Road CCISS ACI AISCAT RAI ANAS PERIFERICAL UNITS TCC- Police Others rrs = hierarchical link; = information flow Fig. 1 CCISS operative structure The information coming from suburbs (Traffic Control Centres-TCC and Traffic Information Centres-TIC, Road Police, Italian Automobile Club-ACI ) reaches the CCISS both through coding and normalised protocols and through direct connections (telephone), especially if they come from units operating on the road (Police). In the Centre, this information is validated and filtered by the Road Police and then broadcast on the National Channels of the RAI Page 3 di 16

4 3 Toll Motorway Network 3.1 Traffic Data Acquisition Motorway operators usually employ all the existing technologies available for traffic detection, as traditional video cameras (1334 video cameras installed on the network), IR Video cameras, inductive loops systems (85 systems on the network) an other detection systems (ultrasounds, microwaves, etc.) Video-cameras are in general complex equipments, consisting of a fixed camera with an image processor, which can single out anomalies (stationary vehicles, etc.) to draw the attention of the operator of the Traffic Control Centre, who can activate a flexible videocamera equipped with traverse and zoom in order to observe and analyse the anomaly. It should be pointed out that, since the Italian motorway network is entirely tolled, and vehicles are controlled both when they enter and when they exit toll stations, traffic flow through toll station is known in real time, and, by using data from the above equipment, together with the historical matrix of OD trips, it is possible to know with a good approximation the volume of traffic on the different sections of the network. Recently, detection systems for vehicles equipped with the Italian electronic toll collection (Telepass) have been installed, one approximately each 6 km, on various sections of the National Network (about 25%). Through tracking the above vehicles, which are detected when they run through each controlled section, it is possible to have reliable real time information on traffic flow on the entire network. 3.2 Toll collection system and traffic control The following systems are employed for toll collection on the motorway network: Payment in cash with an entry ticket and exit payment through an operator or automatic cash. Through credit card on dedicated lanes Through the Italian toll collection system (TELEPASS) on non-stop, dedicated lanes. The network is managed through 3610 toll lanes in all, which are so divided: 1002 lanes for paying in cash equipped with operators or automatic cash; 832 automatic lanes for credit card; 1776 TELEPASS non-stop lanes. Being all the lanes linked in real time to the Control Centre, it is possible to detect all the entry and exit flows. These data are used as input of mathematical models that allow knowing in the real time the OD matrix and consequently in the real time the traffic flowalong each stretch and each section of the motorway (for traffic control and management) Page 4 di 16

5 3.3 Weather monitoring stations These are mainly used to determine the visibility, direction and wind speed, possible precipitation (rain, snow, hail), and the presence of water, snow or ice on the asphalt. For the last two situations, two different technologies are employed, leading to two different monitoring techniques: The direct and active technique, based on the Peltier effect, for establishing the freezing point of substances present on the asphalt; The indirect and passive, based on the detection of a number of parameters (air temperature, ground and underground, conductivity, polarisation), from which it is also possible to establish, through an appropriate model, the freezing point and the more or less sufficient presence of salt on the asphalt. In all, 238 weather monitoring stations have been installed. 3.4 Data Management Traffic data management Traffic data, detected as described in par. 3.1, are acquired in real time by the Traffic Control Centre, where they are properly aggregated to update the historical databases, and processed in real time by suitable models to generate: Short and medium term predictions about the evolution of the network; Incident detection and activation of the necessary emergency services (police, ambulance, Firemen, Civil Protection, etc.) User information in the diverse modalities and diverse levels (see below) Weather data management Weather Data are acquired in real time to the TCC where, as well as direct detection, the same data are employed in strict coordination with regional and national forecast systems, both for preventive actions and for user information. In such integrated systems, advanced forecasting models are used to produce forecasts (for sections of 10 Km) for the short and medium average term (5h-24h) Traffic Control Centres (TCC) and Traffic Information Centres (TIC) The motorway operators have 33 TCCs, each of them generally organized according to the architecture shown in fig. 2. These Centres deal with data detection in entry (traffic, weather, etc.), processing data operation, and manage exit data to VMS (Variable Message Signs), CCISS, radio, etc Page 5 di 16

6 The various TCCs are linked together, and to CCISS, through normalised protocols (DATEX). Input 1 (e,g.: Meteo) Input 2 (e,g.: video cam Input 1 (e,g.: traffic) Output 1 (e,g.: VMS) Ouput 2 (e,g.: CCISS) FEP FEP FEP FEP FEP SERVER FEP = Front End Processor Fig. 2 TCC general architecture The TCCs are closely linked, almost always integrated, with the TICs. There are also TIC independent of the TCCs. At the moment, there are 24 TICs in operation. 3.5 User information User information is disseminated in different ways and at different levels: At local level, in the motorway controlled by each TIC, through VMS, dedicated radio proprietary channels (ISORADIO and the like), (5 in all on the entire network), Service Providers of mobile telecoms, Call Centres (15 in all on the entire network), agreements Page 6 di 16

7 with local radio broadcasts (3 actually in operation), Internet web sites real time updated (15 in all); At multi-regional level, mainly through multi- regional TICs, multi- regional Call Centres (3 actually in operation) and agreements with private broadcasting stations; At National level, through the CCISS (23 direct broadcasts) -whose tasks and architecture are described in par. 2- and through TELEVIDEO (23 direct broadcasts). As far as Variable Message Signs (VMS) are concerned, 631 VMS have been installed so far on the National Motorway Network, generally located: Before the entry to the motorway system, where the user can choose different routes; On the entrance lanes, to give local and more updated news; Along the route, usually before exits or ramifications, in order to allow the user to leave the motorway or change route. VMS generally make use of active technology systems (high brightness LED) and are structured with two pictograms and three lines of text Page 7 di 16

8 4. National Free Road And Freeway Network 4.1 Traffic data acquisition National free road and freeway network is equipped with the following devices: Traditional video cameras IR video cameras Inductive loops Other detection systems (ultrasound, microwave, etc) 56 actually in operation on the entire network none no data available no data available On this network, there are neither TCCs nor TICs; the data collected is more useful for data acquisition for later analysis, than for real time monitoring. 4.2 Weather data detection Stations for weather detection are mainly used for determining the visibility, wind speed and direction, possible precipitation and type (rain, snow, hail), and the presence of water, snow or ice on the asphalt. 4.3 Data management Traffic data management As described in par. 4.1, real time detected data is properly aggregated to update historical databases, and processed in real time by suitable models to provide short and medium term forecasts of the evolution of traffic conditions on the network, and to provide the user with information on the state of the network, in the modalities and levels available, essentially through the CCISS. This information is integrated with the data constantly detected by the Road Police Page 8 di 16

9 Weather data management Weather data is supplied to the maintenance stations where it is used to plan and regulate winter operations such as salt spreading and snow clearing. 4.4 User information User information is essentially disseminated: At local level through VMS At national level through the CCISS There are 44 VMS actually in operation on the free road and freeway network, which VMS generally make use of active technology systems (high brightness LED) and are structured with one or two pictograms and three lines of text Page 9 di 16

10 5 Urban Areas In urban areas, problems are evidently different from those of the non-urban road and motorway network. In fact, in addition to the normal requirements of the road network, there are also tasks related to the measures to be adopted in case of excessive pollution levels. The general trend is to adopt telematic systems for traffic control and management, which integrate several dedicated subsystems, each dedicated to a specific function (traffic lights management, traffic flow control, public transport management, parking systems control, user information, Limited Traffic Zone management, User Information Systems, TIC, etc.). The aim is to provide a better management of urban mobility, in order to reduce the traffic environmental impacts and improve the road safety. A typical architecture for the management of a large urban system is reported in fig. 3. OPERATORS MAINTENANCE OPERATOR INTERACTIVE VIDEO WALL VIDEO WALL OPERATOR GATEWAY SUBWAY CONTROL CENTER 2nd LEVEL LAN WEB SERVER MASTER ROUTER TELECOMMUNICATION FRONT END 1st LEVEL LAN BACKUP OTHER IMAGE CONTROL CENTERS PROCESSO R MUNICIPALITY VIDEO POLICE CONTROL CENTER MATRIX PUBLIC TRANSPORT CONTROL CENTER AREA CONTROLLERS METEO AND POLLUTION DETECTION DATA - VIDEO SDH LAN PERIPHERAL CONCENTRATORS PARKING MANAGEMENT VIDEO SURVEILLANCE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT TRAFFIC LIGHT REGULATION COMPUTER VMS TRAFFICO DEVIATO INVN OVARA C AUSALAVORI TRAFFIC DETECTION PIEZO ELECTRIC SENSORS INDUCTIVE LOOPS TRANSPONDER INDUCTIVE LOOPS Fig. 3 Integrated Telematic System for Urban Traffic Management (City of Milan) Page 10 di 16

11 5.1 Integrated Systems for Traffic Control and Management In general, the functional architecture of such telematic systems adopts an open, modular and expansible structure (see fig. 3). The Traffic Control Centre (TCC) is the key element of the system, as integrates all the subsystems dedicated to carrying out specific functions of monitoring and control, as described below. 5.2 Data acquisition Traffic data acquisition According to the telematic system concept adopted in the urban area and the integration level chosen, different off the shelf technologies can be adopted: video cameras, inductive loops, piezo-electric sensors, and infrared or acoustical sensors, etc. In the solutions typically adopted in the main Italian cities (Rome, Turin, Milan, etc.), the system acquires traffic data (flows, speeds, and queues) both through installed street sensors, and video cameras. These devices enable the Traffic Control Centre to have a real time picture of the current level of service of the street network monitored by the System. In particular, video cameras, that are complex devices based on image processors, allow the real time diagnosis of traffic events, with benefits also regarding safety Weather and pollution data detection Weather and pollution data is detected on street by road sensors. The detection systems are generally used in combination: the former are used to detect data useful to the operative interventions and, together with the second ones, to monitor the rates provided for by law. 5.3 Data management Traffic data management As described in 5.1, detected data is acquired in real time by the TCC. In the TCC, the following functions are carried out: traffic data is stored, as well as other information from different sources, like the municipal government, the police, or other public authorities, concerning planned events and emergencies. This allow to know in the real time the current level of service of the street network monitored by the TCC, enabling its diagnosis and consequent actions; the data is handled by models for traffic lights management and to produce traffic messages and route them to users through different media, as VMS, local radio broadcasts, WEB, Call Centre, SMS, WAP, Televideo. the collected data is aggregated to update historical databases and processed to support traffic planning activities Page 11 di 16

12 5.3.2 Weather and pollution data management Pollution data is stored and processed in the real time in the TCC, where it is used as input for suitable decision support systems (DSS) supporting public authorities to adopt the proper decisions regarding possible traffic limitation measures. 5.4 User information The availability of reliable real time information allows users to make conscious route choices, with benefits not only regarding comfort but also for the efficiency of the whole urban transport system. Currently the traffic events information service is made available to the end users through several media, for pre-trip and on-trip user information at different levels Through VMS, local radio broadcasts At National level, through the CCISS Information managed by Traffic Information Centre, delivered to users via WEB sites, Call Centre, SMS, WAP, Televideo, etc As far as VMS are concerned, they are usually installed on critical sections of the network, where it is possible for the user to change route, and diffuse information concerning the actual level of service of the roads (congestion, queues, etc.), detected on some itineraries by local sensors. The TICs (Traffic Information Centres) play a strategic role in the management of the urban integrated telematic systems, being the platform on traffic information are prepared to be delivered to the final users. Generally, the TICs provides also information not directly related to current traffic conditions, but with potential impacts on them, as notices about road works, public events and manifestations, parking information and status Page 12 di 16

13 6 Examples of Advanced Research and Deployment Projects 6.1 Toll motorway network The Easy Driver Project In this project a system has been set up that is currently applied to the urban motorway between Padova and Venice: each 500 metres, traffic detectors integrated with weather sensors are installed: Detected data are managed by a complex model on the control computer piloting VMS spaced at one each kilometre. Each VMS for each lane can give: The go-ahead sign (straight green arrow) and the advised speed; Move right or left (oblique green arrow) and the suggested speed; Closed passage (red cross). Through such a system, it is possible to regulate traffic in real time and prevent incidents when there are obstacles or delays detected in real time by the sensor system The Marco Project In the Marco project a traffic management systems has been implemented and applied on the ring road of Mestre (Venice): traffic detectors identify the situation of proximity to the maximum capacity of the monitored section. In such conditions (instability of the system), the access to the ramps is limited even for a short time, through the use of traffic lights, in order to avoid the congestion caused by exceeding the maximum capacity The Deep View Project This project is currently in the development phase and its aim is to work out an intelligent motorway. Advanced radar sensors track all the vehicles and consequently, the microscopic situation immediately in front of each vehicle. The user equipped with a particular on-board unit can receive alarms if he is getting near the preceding vehicle too fast, especially in the case of poor visibility, as shown in fig Page 13 di 16

14 Fig. 4 The system Deep View 6.2 Urban areas The 5T project The term 5T actually stands for Telematics Technologies for Transport and Traffic in Turin and it is used to describe one of the most important mobility management systems in Europe, that has been deployed in the City of Turin in the Nineties. The 5T system is composed of 7 subsystems (fig. 5). Fig. 5 The 5T System Page 14 di 16

15 The subsystems perform the following functions: The Town Supervisor guarantees integration of the subsystems in order to provide the best service for mobility while protecting the environment. It monitors traffic conditions every 5 minutes in co-operation with the other subsystems and every hour it forecasts mobility, checks on the effects of pollution and elaborates a general strategy for the subsequent period. The Urban Traffic Control (UTC) subsystem manages the traffic lights by a trafficresponsive regulation according to on-line local measurements and the area policies suggested by the Town Supervisor. At the same time, it guarantees traffic light priority to public transport. It manages 150 junctions in the urban area, with about 700 traffic sensors. The Public Transport Management subsystem ensures public transport regularity and commercial speed by means of the SIS (Service Information System), the AVM system operated by Turin s public transport operator ATM. This system has been in operation since 1994 for the entire fleet of 1350 vehicles. The subsystem monitors the positions of vehicles in the fleet and co-operates with the UTC system to ensure traffic light priority for public transport vehicles. It provides also information to the users by means of 200 atstop displays (VIA) showing vehicle arrival times and by means of 100 on-board audiovisual displays (INFOBUS) that announce the next stop. The Parking Control and Management subsystem is connected with 9 automated car parks. It provides forecasts on space availability and enables remote booking by interactive Televideo to clients with smartcards. The Environment Monitoring and Control subsystem uses weather forecasts together with data from 11 pollution detection stations and traffic data to predict environmental conditions over the short term. The Collective Route Guidance subsystem provides dynamic route guidance to various parts of the city by means of Variable Direction Signs (VDS). It also provides real-time information on available parking spaces in the automated car parks. It operates 26 VDS and 23 parking guidance signs. The TITOS Public Information subsystem provides real-time information on public transport, traffic, parking and the environment by Internet and interactive Televideo. A SMS messaging system is also being launched for mobile phone users. The aim of the TITOS Public Information subsystem is to help travellers to plan their trips on-line before and during their journeys. It provides recommended travel itineraries from and to any point in the city area Page 15 di 16

16 6.2.2 The Integrated Telematic System implemented in Rome The Rome s administration starting from 1998, has implemented a new integrated telematic system for traffic monitoring and management. The implementation of such a system was based on the analysis of benefits which can be achieved by applying ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) to the overall mobility area; such analysis was, by the way, performed in strict co-operation with some leading European cities and has been based on the evaluation of the results of several demonstrative projects. The core of the Integrated System is the Traffic Control Centre installed at the Mobility Agency of the City of Rome headquarters. This Control Centre has the main functions of monitoring, managing and controlling the urban traffic through several dedicated subsystems, each one playing a specific role, such as: Urban Traffic Control (UTC): its main function to carry out the centralised traffic signal control relative to about 400 urban intersections with the target of managing signal plans co-ordination, with public transport priority on tram lines (60 installations) Automatic Access Control related to the Limited Traffic Zone (ZTL): the principle objective of access control is the substantial reduction of both through and destination traffic, due to the urban fragility and intensity of use of the historical centre. The system installed in Rome is composed of 22 access gate, enclosing the entire area (6 km2) where the measure of limited access are enforced. The User Information Systems based on Variable Message Signs (VMS): the subsystem is aimed at providing on trip traffic information. At the moment, 48 installations have been put on operation, 36 located along two urban express ways and 11 on the main radial approaches to the City Centre. The Variable Message Signs diffuse information concerning the actual level of service of the roads (congestion, queues, etc.), detected on some itineraries by local sensors; which are distributed on critical sections of the network. Traffic Information Centre (TIC): the TIC subsystem plays a strategic role in the management of the integrated ITS system in Rome, being the platform on traffic information are prepared to be delivered to the final users. Currently the traffic events information service is made available to the end users through several media, like WEB site, call Centre and mobile phones (SMS and WAP). The system includes also a CCTV traffic surveillance system, with 60 TV colour cameras, located in the main intersections of the network and connected to the centre via an optic fibres proprietary network. All the traffic data are transferred in real time to the Urban Police Operating Centre in order to realise an integrated monitoring and management of events relevant to the urban mobility. The system acquires traffic data (flows, speeds, and queues) through 2500 installed street sensors, with an update time of 5. This enables the Traffic Control Centre to have a real time picture of the current level of service of the street network monitored by the System Page 16 di 16