Crown Highways have installed the first Radar detectors in the country which have the ability to capture traffic data. The sites located on the M6 Toll have been installed to replace the detector loops which capture the Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL) daily traffic figures.
Historically the M6 Toll daily traffic figures were captured by conventional detector loops set within the pavement, Midlands Expressway Ltd wanted to replace these detection loops with above ground detection. Crown Highways undertook the construction of the individual sites including the base for the column, access paths and steps, installation of the column and Wavetronix SmartSensor HD Radar equipment.
In collaboration with Wavetronix and Q-Free UK the hardware and software were integrated to enable the HI-TRAC®EMU3 outstation to use the rich detection data from the Wavetronix SmartSensor HD Radar detector. The integration has been seamless and has provided the Midland Expressway relatively undisturbed data flow because of Crown Highways project management and delivery.
On the 15th September 2017 Midlands Expressway confirmed that Q-Free UK’s HI-TRAC® EMU3 unit was successfully getting live data from the Wavetronix Radar units, a first for the UK. Q-Free has further supported the development of the data hosting and real-time reporting facility available to the Midlands Expressway operations team.
Statements:
Wavetronix Sales Manager UK – Gartland O’Neill
“Wavetronix has mitigated the downsides common with above-ground detection with the SmartSensor HD. The result is a device that will provide great benefits on the M6 Toll. Our collaboration with Crown Highways and Q-Free UK on this project was a wonderful opportunity and a great way to highlight the benefits that come with using Wavetronix SmartSensor HD Radar vehicle detection.”
TDC –Q-Free UK Commercial Manager – Colin Reekie
“We are pleased to have supported the integration of the Wavetronix SmartSensor HD continuing our relationship with the Midlands Expressway team which has seen the upgrading of the traffic detection technology over the past 12-18 months, including the provision of a real-time queue management system at the toll plazas integrated with the traffic data from the detection sites along the route”
MEL – Systems Maintenance Manager – Paul Parry
“As starting off the project to integrate the Wavetronix Detector to our existing Hi-Track EMU-3 devices, it seemed like the sensible way to go forward. Once Wavetronix and Q-Free got together, the development was carried out in the background, so the resulting meetup on site after Crown Highways had installed and managed the equipment, proved to be seamless. Both devices connected up and configured and we had live data within minutes. From my point of view, the project has been very well managed and smoothly integrated into our existing infrastructure.”
Crown Highways – Managing Director – Mike Dale
“We are very happy to be part of this project and to see the Radar technology being used in this way, thus opening the door to further work in traffic data collection systems arena.”
