Highlights

The M25 is one of Europe's busiest motorways, handling around 200,000 vehicles every day.  It is at the core of our network and is suffering from increasing congestion levels and journey times. Various options to improve the traffic flow from junctions 5 to 7 were considered and the implementation of a ‘Smart Motorways’ scheme was chosen as the most cost effective solution. The scheme was possible due to the availability of proven ITS technology and traffic management systems previously trialled and implemented on the M42, where the benefits and impacts were fully assessed.

This project addresses user security through incident detection, targeted user information and driving conditions securing. SAPN motorway operator has deployed the project on interchange n°20, on the intersection between A13 motorway and local networks around Rouen (France).

On June 23^rd, 2017 the European Commission proposed to invest €2.7 billion in 152 key transport projects that support competitive, clean and connected mobility in Europe. This investment is made under the Connecting Europe Facility, the EU's financial mechanism supporting infrastructure networks.

The Transport Scotland Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC) consists of three major infrastructure projects: ‘The Principal Contract’, including the new Queensferry Crossing, and the adjoining ITS and road schemes to the north and south: ‘Fife ITS’ and ‘M9 J1A’. This is a vital strategic and economic route for both the east, and Scotland nationally; and this project marks the first implementation of a Managed Motorway in Scotland. Completion of the Queensferry Crossing is the final stage, with partial opening of the bridge scheduled for summer 2017.

The Netherlands as UM2 partner

URSA MAJOR 2 is based upon an established, well-working cooperation of the involved road operators and road authorities. 

A special situation needs to be considered for the Netherlands. The Netherlands traditionally has a very high traffic density and has consequently started early and swiftly to deploy ITS. In the Netherlands, not only the potential to expand the road network but also the deployment of traditional ITS are nowadays saturated.

Amsterdam Practical Trial, phase 2

Activity 5 Task 2 of the EU EIP project required the specification of a definitive list of practical ITS Deployment and Benefit KPIs for the ex-post evaluation of road-based ITS services. A KPI taskforce was therefore set up in 2016, including representatives of some of the ITS corridors. Active contributors to the KPI definition report included EU EIP representatives from Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom; however, the wider EU EIP project team was also involved in the review of the proposed KPIs list. The objective of such co-operation was twofold:

Starting in 2015, the Landesbetrieb Mobilität (LBM) Rheinland-Pfalz has been establishing a traffic management system on 16km of the highly frequented motorway A61.

On 30^th June 2017, this system was put into service by Dr Volker Wissing, Minister for Economy, Traffic, Agriculture and Viniculture, Mainz and Christian Weibrecht head of the subdivision “Straßenbau, Straßenbaupolitik, Straßenplanung, Straßenrecht“ of the Ministry for Traffic and digital Infrastructure, Bonn, right in time for the beginning of the holiday season.

At the 12^th ITS European Congress in Strasbourg, the European ITS Platform’s Activity “Monitoring and Dissemination” led by Stephanie Kleine organised a session titled “the future of road operation and traffic management”.

The congress’ visitors were given the chance to hear some top-class professionals’ view of the future. For further information, please download the flyer below.

ITS Strasbourg Highlight

On June 8th, 2017 the EU EIP project (subactivity 4.6) organised a workshop in Frankfurt on the use of metadata in National Access Points (NAPs). The objectives of the workshop were:

• To review existing practices among operating NAPs

• To evaluate the concept and the usage of the “Coordinated Metadata Catalogue” as a proposal for a harmonised set of Metadata

• To develop a common understanding for a harmonised Metadata approach across Europe.

As part of Task 1 of EU EIP Sub-Activity 4.1 "Stakeholders, value chains and recommended work processes for ITS services", a focus was laid on Service ’Round Tables’ which have been identified as a possible platform for stakeholder communication and cooperation.

The report summarises roles and structures of and gives recommendations on such Service ’Round Tables’.

The goal of Task 1 of EU EIP Sub-Activity 4.1 was the definition of stakeholders, value chains, recommended work processes and quality assurance methods. This task, performed in strong interaction with stakeholders, lays the fundament for widening the scope of the quality related work to other ITS Directive priority services in identifying relevant stakeholders, scope and way of working of ITS Directive priority services, and figuring out anchor points for quality assurance and quality assessment methods.

EU EIP Sub-Activity 4.1 has organised an open workshop to discuss definitions for quality criteria, quality requirements and assessment methods for Multimodal Travel Information Services (MMTIS).

More than 25 experts on quality of multimodal traveller information services from ten European Member States have joined this workshop in Bruxelles on 30th March 2017. The attendance demonstrated a good mix of four major stakeholders:

-  the European Commission;

One of the key tasks of the EU EIP project (www.its-platform.eu) is to develop a European ITS Deployment Road Map with the overall objective to support the alignment of national, regional and CEF corridor ITS deployment plans. This is expected to contribute to higher efficiency in ITS deployment and more impact from the use of ITS on European roads.

EC is hosting an EU EIP Activity 2 External Stakeholder Session on “future road operation and road management” at the EC exhibition booth Tuesday 20 from 16:45-18:00. This session will consider managing the road traffic of the future. Electrification, automation and connectivity are major disruptive paradigm shifts in how road transport will evolve in the next two decades.

Together with the redesign process of the ITS Deployment Guidelines (ITS DGs) in order to facilitate their handling, it is planned to renew the existing best practices with a special focus on supporting the DG requirements and to enrich the result with new innovative examples for ITS deployment.

Are we on the right direction to reach the objective to have harmonized ITS deployment beyond borders? The European Commission is active in boosting member states cooperation. The session will present successful cross border ITS implemented in MedTIS and Arc Atlantique projects (co-financed by the European Commission). These deployments will consist of a series of proven ITS technologies and services which have known and proven impacts on the efficiency of the road network as well as successful cross border services.

DATEX II will consult its own Stakeholder Advisory Board (STAB). This high level board consists of external stakeholders (key public or private organizations with a stake in the DATEX maintenance and developments).

Last May 4^th and 5^th the 1st Intermediate Member State Supervision Assembly was held in Rome in the venue of the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.