Durham urban traffic management control, UK

Our proven UTMC product, Osprey, is helping Durham County Council use available road space more efficiently while managing congestion and events and monitoring performance along key routes. It has also played a crucial part in advancing knowledge on the operation and behaviour of the county's highway network.

Challenges

• Durham County has key transport and business links between the city regions of Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley. Therefore, strategic decisions made in Durham can directly impact other local authorities.
• Millburngate Bridge in the heart of Durham is the busiest road with some 50,000 vehicles crossing each day. Consequently, congestion or incidents on this route can lead to significant delays for traffic throughout the city. Osprey allows the highway authority to not only manage the usual traffic flows, but to also better respond to unexpected delays and incidents and manage planned events.
• The western area of the county is rural nature and its topography has resulted in the highway network experiencing adverse effects from climactic conditions – for example, road closures from flooding and snow.
• The Newton Cap viaduct in Bishop Auckland is often subject to high winds making it necessary to divert high-sided vehicles along an alternative route.

Solution

Through a map-based user interface, Osprey provides a cohesive picture of network conditions across the county. It integrates with vital systems for wind warning, automatic number plate recognition which supplies journey time information, meteorological monitoring, road work information, incidents and traffic signal monitoring. Osprey provides access to images from CCTV cameras across the county. Additional journey time coverage is continually added to improve information precision.

The strategy manager allows DCC to automatically invoke prepared network response plans, helping to ensure consistent rapid response to changing network conditions.

Value and benefits

Osprey has provided strong support for the council’s traffic management needs. This includes the introduction of SCOOT, CCTV cameras to monitor traffic, dynamic traffic count data, a car park guidance system and control of UTMC compliant strategic variable message signs to enhance the traffic management plan. Osprey’s capabilities allow the council to monitor and control these signs with the aim of managing traffic flow.

Mott MacDonald also supplies Osprey to neighbouring authorities including the Tyne and Wear UTMC system. As these neighbouring systems are similar, Durham County Council will be able to share data seamlessly with other local authorities in future.