Hertfordshire and Essex County Councils push live traffic updates to sat-navs

The new system, roadworks.pro Real-Time, is being jointly launched between Hertfordshire and Essex, the first local authorities in the country to deploy the innovative technology.

Live updates on road closures are sent from the roadside or from the control room direct to sat-nav systems, enabling routes to be updated more rapidly helping drivers divert to an alternative route before encountering a closure.

roadworks.pro Real-Time, is the next generation traffic management centre in the cloud. It provides a single platform for the coordination, planning, communication and monitoring of traffic disruptions, and a unique capability to influence driver behaviour through live sat-nav updates.

For residents and road users in Hertfordshire and Essex, communication is improved with congestion alerts and instant publication of traffic management interventions via roadworks.org, other websites and with instant updates on sat-nav devices - directing drivers away from both planned and emergency road closures, enabling better route choices and reducing disruption, along with the environmental benefits associated with reduced congestion.

Cllr Kevin Bentley, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Infrastructure at Essex County Council, said,

“This new automated information going straight to drivers’ sat-navs in real time should be a great help in avoiding traffic jams, road closures and live incidents. As our roads get busier we are leading the way in using technology to keep Essex moving.”

And Cabinet Member for Herts Highways, Phil Bibby, added,

“This technology is fantastic news for drivers in Hertfordshire and the surrounding areas. Our Highways officers will be able to influence thousands of journeys in real-time, reducing traffic jams and making it easier for our emergency services to access incidents.”

The Real-Time modules include,

- Real-Time Map – a map dashboard giving up-to-the-minute information across the local and strategic road network highlighting severe and unusual congestion and identifying the cause of traffic jams wherever possible.

- Traffic Management App (TM App) Real-Time – TM App offers the ability to create temporary traffic management interventions (road closures, diversions, etc.), which are published on and communicated via roadworks.org and syndicated to many other websites. Further, TM App running in real-time mode offers the ability to communicate road closures via sat-nav devices in real-time, influencing driver behaviour and route choice. The system has been prototyped with Google Maps and is being rolled out to other sat-nav service providers.

- Real-Time Route Monitor – enables both road authorities and the general public to see the status of major routes at a glance. The system presents the most heavily travelled routes in a region as a simple dashboard, showing congestion hotspots via a simple RAG dashboard.

- Traffic Disruption Analytics – a unique system that tracks the real-world impact of roadworks and public events in real-time, logging the data to create a “disruption profile” for every roadwork and event that causes unusual or severe disruption. This information can be interrogated to support better planning of future works, public events and traffic management interventions.

The system supports road authorities in identifying & implementing tactical intervention strategies to alleviate congestion issues, potentially saving significant costs.

Please contact us for more information.