Traffic counting stations in Abu Dhabi

The Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi has introduced a new Road Vehicle Traffic Counting System (TCS), under which it will deploy 175 next-generation devices on main roads across Abu Dhabi. The traffic counting stations, which will be run on solar energy, offer presence indicators and accurate measurements of vehicle volume, occupancy, speed and classifications in 12 separate lanes, up to 76m away. The system provides better safety indicators on main roads, along with historical and real-time traffic information for the assessment of main road improvement and traffic management. It estimates and assesses highway design parameters and operational requirements, and determines highway classifications, while calculating the level of service on main roads. With the $1.9m project, which is scheduled to be completed during Q3 2013, the department aims to provide accurate real-time data for the planning, design, operation and maintenance of main roads. The stations will be permanently located and connected to the traffic central system through wireless communication technologies. All data collected by the stations will be transmitted to the DoT’s Main Road Division, which will recommend changes that can be made to road management. The information from the new system will be more reliable and represent the actual roadway conditions compared to the existing mathematically-modelled data gathering. The installation of the sensors is part of the DoT’s efforts to set up an advanced highway network in Abu Dhabi.