The Turkish motorway management authority, KGM, is currently building a new 350 km-long four-lane road from Espiye to Sarp Batumi along the coast of the Black Sea. Over 20 tunnels with a total length of 28 kilometres will be equipped with Traficon’s video detection system. Six existing tunnels will also be integrated in the overall traffic management structure. 18-19/08.
The decision was made in 2007 to install an intelligent automatic incident detection (AID) system in the Nefise-Akçelik tunnel on the Bolaman-Persembe highway in Turkey. Along the Black Sea Coast, the Bolaman-Persembe state highway is a four lane 28 km-long road link with five tunnels. One of them is the 3.8 km Nefise-Akçelik tunnel. It is the longest highway tunnel in Turkey. To increase safety and capacity in the tunnel, Traficon’s automatic incident detection system has been installed. The automatic incident detection system in the tunnel detects: stopped vehicles, wrong-way drivers, pedestrians, sudden changes in speed, tailbacks, objects on the roadway and smoke.
The successful implementation of the AID system in the Nefise-Akçelik tunnel has lead to the start of a gigantic and exciting next adventure: the Black Sea Coast road project. Beginning in 2008, Traficon received an order to supply their video detection system in another 20 tunnels along the Black Sea Coast.
In the longer tunnels, an automatic video detection system will be installed. It will be able to detect any possible obstacles and hindrances, stopped vehicles or wrong-way drivers as well as pedestrians, sudden vehicle speed changes and traffic jams. Foreign objects on the road or smoke will also be detected and alarm systems will be activated. Handover of the video detection system scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2009.
Traffic events and alarms are transferred in real-time to the tunnel management system. This system will then automatically activate operating plans to respond to each situation. Drivers’ attention is quickly drawn to special situations in the tunnel providing the drivers with safety and warning information by messaging or VMS.
The new traffic management and control system, delivered by Siemens, will be located in Trabzon, one of the main cities in the area. Click here. From there, all the control and monitoring processes of all tunnels will be coordinated to ensure permanent operation. Seven control substations, which can control their sections completely independently if necessary, will be linked up to the control centre. The concept of a main traffic control centre together with seven control substations was chosen so that optimum use could be made of the available local specialists as they are rare in this thinly populated region.
More than 220 tunnels worldwide are already equipped with a Traficon video detection system. In the last two years, Traficon has seen a booming request to implement detection systems in tunnels. In tunnels, every second counts and the key is to have a system that quickly responds to potential danger. Video detection as a solution fits perfectly because of its fast incident detection and direct visual feedback.
The Black Sea Coast highway project serves as the perfect example of how government should act with regard to traffic management in general. By implementing intelligent technology at all levels, The Turkish government is convinced it will prevent serious injuries and reduce the number of deaths on the road significantly.
As part of the video detection technology, an automatic incident detection system is the fastest system currently on the market for detecting all kind of traffic incidents disturbing the normal traffic flow and safety. Within 10 seconds, the Video Image Processing (VIP) module automatically alerts traffic operators of any incident occurring in the tunnel. From within the central control room, equipped with permanent video monitoring, the operator can verify the details of the alarm. From then, the operator can dispatch police resources or may suggest driver advisory actions through variable message signs.
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