Traffic data to ease flow

LIVE readings from Hobart’s traffic hotspots will be collected by the Department of State Growth in an attempt to address the city’s worsening congestion.

The Department has awarded a $150,000 tender to South Australian-based Sage Automation to supply and implement a real-time travel information system in Hobart’s metropolitan area, mainly on arterial roads and in the CBD.

It will include a high bandwidth, “low latency” wireless camera communications system from the Hobart Traffic Management Centre to and between traffic signals.

A department spokeswoman said detectors to feed the new system had already been installed on the Tasman and Brooker Highways, with the entire system expected to be up and running in a few months.

“Detectors have already been installed on the Tasman and Brooker Highways, with further installation in other areas over coming months,” she said. “After installation, over a period of months, the system will collect and analyse data to build a picture of Hobart traffic, including what average traffic patterns and volumes look like.”

The spokeswoman said once the date had been collected, it would be used to provide “real-time” traffic updates to Hobart commuters.

“Once this baseline is established, the information will be used to update long term traffic network modelling, to quickly identify changes from usual traffic conditions, and ultimately to provide real-time information about travel time to commuters,” she said.

When contacted by the Mercury, a spokeswoman for Sage Automation said it was “not in a position to speak about the broader project outcomes”.

In the tender documents relating to the new system, the project was described as a “game-changer” in influencing demand patterns and driver behaviour.

It said that motorists could then “plan their journeys ap- propriately ... thus maximising the use of existing traffic network infrastructure’’.

Earlier this year a $179,000 tender was awarded to GHD Australia and Kapsch to examine lane management, traffic signal operations and systemwide analysis.

Vehicle travel trips across the greater Hobart area are expected to grow 0.5 per cent every year over the next 20 years.