FINNISH ROAD AUTHORITY'S STRATEGY FOR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Risto Kulmala, VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland)

Mirja Noukka, Finnra (Finnish National Road Administration)

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THE APPROACH

To build up an ITS strategy, we realised that we need several different building blocks. We need to have knowledge about:

1. the transport system that we aim for in the future
2. the role of ITS in that transport system
3. the ITS services required by the future transport system
4. the ITS infrastructure required by those services
5. the role of different actors in ITS, and especially that of Finnra
6. commonly agreed approach to develop and implement ITS within Finnra

With the help of the survey, we then determined the services that we should implement by the year 2010. On the basis of these services, we could then estimate what kind of ITS infrastructure we would require.

The Finnish Parliament, Government and the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) have set a number of objectives to Finnra. After going through all of these, we were able to identify six specific objectives, which were relevant to the implementation of ITS. The ITS Steering Group of Finnra weighed the objectives according to Table 1.

FINNRA AND ITS IN 2010

Each expert estimated the potential of each service/function to meet each of the objectives in the following scale:

• negative effect or scored later as -1
• no effect (0)
• small positive effect (1)
• quite large positive effect (2)
• very large positive effect (3)

Table 2 gives a summary of the 27 responses to the survey. The figures in the table are the median scores for the objectives, and the "Total" column shows the weighted average of the median scores, the weights being those appointed to the various objectives.

On the basis of the survey, incident management is the ITS function that best meets the objectives set to Finnra. Many of the traffic information functions are also on the top of the list. The table is not, however, sufficient for determining what ITS systems Finnra should implement. We also had to agree on the general role of Finnra in ITS. We came up with the following ideas.

Finnra applies ITS in its traffic management activities in order carry out its responsibility for ensuring the efficiency and safety of the road transport system while minimising the environmental impacts. Traffic management measures are implemented in the priority order set by the magnitude of transport related problems to be solved. The ITS systems of Finnra can be easily linked to the ITS systems of other transport modes enabling the function of an multimodal transport system.

Traffic and demand management systems are implemented at locations, where their implementation is clearly economically feasible. The implementation of the systems shall not increase the risk of road fatalities and injuries or the environmental burden. Specific systems and applications function in a similar way in the whole road transport system.

Finnra is responsible for the monitoring of the state of the road transport system, and the collection and management of the traffic condition data for its road network. Finnra is also responsible for operation of its traffic management and information centres and the data exchange with relevant national and international actors.

DIFFERENT ITS FOR DIFFERING ENVIRONMENTS

In 2010, the ITS functions of Finnra should contain the following in different operating environments:

• Incident management
• Pre-trip information in information networks and mass media (road weather, congestion, incidents, road works)
• On-trip information to portable or in-vehicle receivers (road weather, congestion, incidents, road works)
• Overtaking support on two-lane roads
• Road use fee collection (supportive role)
• Information about alternative modes, routes and services before the trip, to portable/in-vehicle receivers and POIs or Points-Of-Information (supportive role)

Incident management and various information services providing real-time information about traffic and road surface conditions are the most important ITS services of Finnra. Due to their high data quality requirements, these services will cover the main road network only. As the traffic volumes on the main roads are quite low (usually daily volume well below 10,000), on-trip incident and other information is provided via the radio or cellular networks (RDS, RDS-TMC, DAB, GSM, GSM Cellular Broadcast, etc.)

• Weather- and Incident-controlled speed limits
• Dynamic speed adaptation and other driver assistance systems (supportive role)
• Lane-keeping guidance on snowy surfaces

The high-standard roads are the only part of the road network, which is economically feasible to be covered by roadside systems, due to the sufficiently high traffic volumes. Weather-controlled speed limit systems employing VMS and Intelligent Speed Adaptation in-vehicle systems are among the ITS systems with most safety potential available in 2010.

• Tunnel management systems
• Bridge management systems
• Systems for vulnerable road users
• Information and warnings via VMS at problem locations (road weather, congestion, incidents, road works, large animals)
• Signal control
• Speed harmonisation and overtaking control systems

Roadside traffic control and management systems are implemented at very specific problem locations only. These locations include critical tunnels, bridges with critical wind or other problems, locations with exceptional road weather conditions, game fence openings, road work sites, hazardous junctions, road sections with recurring congestion, etc.

• Regional traffic control systems
• Tolls based on congestion, air quality etc. for motor vehicles (largely supportive role)
• Guidance to Park & Ride
• Other demand management systems (supportive role)
• Systems giving priority to public transport and high-occupancy vehicles
• Travel information at public transport stops and terminals (supportive role)

The traffic management systems on the road network around large urban areas are implemented in close collaboration with the municipalities as it is essential that the ITS systems within the urban area and outside it function in a co-ordinated manner. Finnra participates in the implementation of various demand management systems.

• Route guidance for heavy and special transports
• Hazardous goods transports monitoring
• Real-time information of road maintenance actions
• Demand responsive public transport (supportive role)
• Automatic police enforcement (supportive role)

The ITS services provided throughout the country mainly reflect Finnra's objective to ensure safety as well as provide mobility and accessibility to the citizens and the society.

Information systems

To maintain and implement the services listed above, Finnra has to maintain the relevant information systems and databases as well as the necessary traffic information and management centres, TICs and TMCs. Data collection includes real-time monitoring and reporting of traffic and road weather on the main road network and close to large urban areas.

Some ITS services such as incident management require quick and functioning connections to the police, regional emergency centres, and road maintenance offices. We are currently planning a national information exchange system, which will serve Finnra's information needs but also provide access to real-time traffic information for other authorities as well as private ITS service providers.

OPERATIONAL STRATEGY

All Finnra's ITS development, implementation and operation activities should follow the general guidelines defined below:

2.&The implementation and development of ITS services is based on the requirements and acceptance of the users (road authority, transport operator, road user, etc.)

3.&The development of ITS systems is performed through controlled pilot studies and experiments, in which the impacts of the systems are assessed. Systems that have been proven to be beneficial and effective can be introduced as standard Finnra ITS services.

ACTION PROGRAMME 1997 - 1999

The emphasis of the action programme will be on:

• traffic monitoring
• road weather monitoring
• the ITS service database and the centre operator interface
• TIC and TMC operations and institutional issues
• radio-and GSM-based traffic information services, including RDS-TMC
• internet-based traffic information services
• road weather related traffic management, including speed limits
• incident management
• assessment of the impacts and economic feasibility of the services

The focus is on implementing the basic information infrastucture in the form of traffic and road weather monitoring, information management systems and the TIC/TMC centres. In addition, the programme includes the implementation of some ITS services which are expected to suit well the Finnish conditions. The implementation of RDS-TMC within the programme is due to European commitments.