Development Strategies for the Use of Traffic Management on the Primary Road Network in Denmark Fifteen to twenty years ago, traffic information and later a wider use of traffic management was introduced in Denmark. As in other countries, a large amount of resources was put into research and development in the beginning, but in the last ten years, the main emphasis has increasingly been placed on implementation. The implementation has to a large extent been within limited areas, functionally and geographically. The time has come to focus more on perspectives, vision and plans for the use of traffic management. The Danish Road Directorate has drawn up various development perspectives on how traffic anagement can be used on the motorway network during the next ten to fifteen years.
Road traffic has in recent years been growing and is expected to continue doing so in coming years. The growth is particularly expected to concentrate on the main road network. Even with extension of the road network, the packed conditions on the main network are expected to rise in coming years. Thus, there is focus to make use of the existing capacity of the transport system more efficiently by means such as traffic management. It is therefore becoming necessary to make use of means in traffic management which in a more widespread and purposeful manner influence the demand for transportation and control of the traffic, thus achieving an optimization of the transport system. Here the new and future technological possibilities in traffic management play an important role. The main objectives of the efforts in traffic management are to create greater mobility, increased traffic safety and good service for the road users. The ways to achieve this are to collect and treat data on traffic development and to inform the road users on the results and to control the traffic. Data collection and treatment is integrated in the efforts planned.
Traffic management Traffic management means: Control of traffic streams, people, vehicles and merchandise by traffic information, traffic management, demand management (road pricing), and other means to keep the traffic system open, secure and environmentally acceptable. A continuous collection of knowledge and data on traffic and mobility is an integrated part of traffic management.
Four primary means for the efforts in traffic management have been made for the coming years as a basis for the scenarios: • Traffic management should contribute to achieve a more effective use of the transport system and create better mobility on the main road network. • Traffic management should be integrated in the work on traffic safety and contribute to the improvement of traffic safety on the main road network. • Traffic management should support the efforts of the transportation sector to make its transport and logistics system more effective regarding the attainment of more effective goods transport. • Modern traffic management equipment should be used to describe mobility in detail so that better knowledge of the development of mobility can be obtained on the entire main road network.
There are various forms of traffic management, which can be placed under three headings according to their function: 1. Traffic information Road user information, such as TRIM and TRIM Travel time. (TRIM is Dynamic traffic information on traffic status and travel times, provided on the internet. TRIM covers approximately 130 km of motorways in Greater Copenhagen.) 2. Local traffic management Systems that can warn road users of places where there frequently are traffic jams and which can control traffic management in the best possible way. 3. Motorway control systems Systems that can give information, warn road users and manage the traffic on stretches with heavy traffic load. In order to be able to choose the correct method of traffic management at the right place and time, it is necessary to have detailed and updated knowledge of the traffic condition of the road network and of the mobility in particular. Collection of knowledge and data is therefore an important independent function, which is integrated with the other functions under traffic management.
Development strategies The Danish Road Directorate has proposed some possibilities of development for traffic management. These are illustrated in three scenarios that demonstrate the potentials of traffic management functions such as ”information”, ”local traffic management” and ”traffic management on road stretches”. The development scenarios focus primarily on actions along the motorways. However, in order to create connection with the systems and networks also actions in other places/stretches on the main state network of roads are included. Here it is a question of traffic management actions over and above those carried out in connection with major construction projects which have already been agreed politically. Three scenarios have been drawn up to introduce traffic management with suggestions for concrete actions and efforts for each of the three traffic management functions. The three scenarios represent three different levels: low, medium and high. The efforts are illustrated on three maps. The maps show the areas and stretches where it is suggested that the three system types should be introduced.
Charlotte Vithen, Head of Office for Traffic Management and ITS, DRD, Denmark
