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| Atkins helps to combat congestion on California highways  Transport authorities in Northern California have asked Atkins to identify congestion hotspots on their roads network as they look at ways of controlling rising traffic problems as the population grows. Currently, over 21 million trips are taken daily by 7.5 million residents in the San Francisco Bay Area, with some 85 per cent of this on the regional freeways and highways. Research shows that in 2035 the Bay area population is expected to reach just over 9 million residents - an increase of 25 per cent with corresponding increases in travel.Atkins has been awarded the contract by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, one of the largest counties in the nine county San Francisco Bay area with around one million people. As part of the study, Atkins will collect traffic congestion data from 78 local intersections and 11 freeway segments throughout the county, comparing the findings with past results. Monitoring methods will include vehicle probe data, video detection and manual counts. Innovative new technologies will also be used, including density studies based on aerial photography and in-vehicle Bluetooth device monitoring. These methodologies allow for performance data to be collected efficiently, safely and with no interference to the motoring public. Many vehicles now contain Bluetooth-enabled networking devices (such as cell phones, GPS systems, wireless headsets and hands-free speaker systems), and those signals can be detected by anonymous wireless address matching sensors on the roadside. To ensure driver privacy, the Bluetooth signals read by the sensors do not include any personal data, and the information gathered is "randomised" and securely encrypted immediately upon detection. This is the first time Bluetooth-based data collection techniques will be used in the county.For the last six years Atkins has been engaged in performance evaluations for multimodal freeway and arterial corridors in Northern California. These efforts focus on developing and presenting metrics that are relevant to regional and national policies. write your comments about the article :: © 2013 Construction News :: home page |