Speed Monitoring System in the Dublin Tunnel

Posted: 1/1/1970

The Dublin Tunnel is the longest urban tunnel in Europe and its construction was the largest civil engineering project in Ireland. The tunnel is 4.5km long and has dramatically reduced the amount of HGV’s in Dublin City Centre by diverting trucks arriving in Dublin Port through the tunnel and straight onto the M50 motorway network.

ITS Road Services, a joint venture company between Egis Road and Tunnel Operation and Electro Automation, was awarded a contract for the provision of speed monitoring system in the Dublin Tunnel which allows the client to monitor driver behaviour in a confined space.

The scope of works included the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras with onwards transmission to Variable Messaging Signs (VMS) which displays the licence plate number of the offending vehicle. In order to minismise disruption to traffic the installation was completed at night.

Three ANPR cameras and two VMS signs were installed in each lane, with the VMS units downstream of the cameras at the appropriate distance.

The first two cameras are 200m apart in order to calculate the point speed of the vehicle between the two points. The third and last camera in the bore will calculate time over distance—speed from cameras one to three.

Journey Time Analysis software calculated the speed of the vehicle and if the vehicle is over the threshold speed, the camera sends the licence plate number to the VMS; where it is displayed. The ANPR camera also transmits data to the in-station.

Multiple reports can be run from this data—namely speed range by volume, by lane, by time range, by date or date range. Computations such as percentage of traffic over threshold speed can also be calculated and driving trends can be monitored and analysed.

The ANPR spikelet cameras are fully-integrated number plate recognition units incorporating cameras, illuminator, data and image processing within a single sealed enclosure featuring high memory and processing speeds. They have a built-in web interface.

The camera software provides a service for reception for out-station devices, diagnostic reporting, remote configuration and onward transmission for multiple camera feeds.

The VMS units are full-colour LED display and measure 480mm by 960mm to ensure they can be viewed by road users traveling at the appropriate speed.

Full communication with other electronic equipment is possible via RS232/RS485 and RJ45.

The visual capabilities are:

Scrolling, flashing and rotating text messages
Time functionality
Moving images in GIF format
Photo display

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