Tests for smooth traffic flow: Civil Engineering Office starts pilot test with Bluetooth sensors on 15 April
An EU funding programme is helping the city to expand its traffic management system. In particular, the city of Chemnitz wants to use the programme to speed up local public transport. Sections of railway lines 4, 5 and 6 as well as bus lines 21 and 51, among others, are to be upgraded this year.
Meanwhile, the civil engineering department is considering applying for EU funding after 2015. In this context, a pilot test with Bluetooth® sensors is to be carried out from 15 April to 13 May to test new measuring stations at individual traffic junctions.
With another EU funding programme for traffic management, the civil engineering department could press ahead with the development of an automatically generated traffic situation map for the city's road network, allowing targeted operational traffic control measures to be taken online according to the respective traffic situation. It would also enable up-to-date information for all road users, which could be sent directly to mobile phones via an app, for example. The prerequisite for this would be a nationwide network of measuring points. Unlike in Dresden or Leipzig, Chemnitz does not yet have any such measuring points. This initial situation offers the advantage that there are no restrictions resulting from the necessary integration of existing technical infrastructure when setting up a network, meaning that a homogeneous system with state-of-the-art technology could be installed.
In order to utilise this opportunity, suitable innovative approaches will first be subjected to a practical test. To this end, an initial pilot trial with Bluetooth sensors will soon be launched on selected routes. This technology differs from conventional traffic monitoring stations in that journey times can be measured directly and representative values for traffic flows can be calculated. This also allows conclusions to be drawn about the traffic situation so that, for example, disruptions in the traffic flow can be recognised automatically.
The Bluetooth sensors will be installed by the Leipzig branch of Swarco Systems at the following junctions:
Straße der Nationen/Georgstraße, Straße der Nationen/Christian-Wehner-Straße,
Müllerstraße/Blankenauer Straße,
Thomas-Mann-Platz,
Dresdner Straße/Frankenberger Straße.