M50 VMS on signage - is it going ahead?

darkman2

Hi, the signs on the M50 are clearly built to accomodate alot of VMS messaging panels. But so far none have been put up. The M50 needs this signage - it is 8 lanes in most places. The busiest road in the country.

I found this on the Arup site

http://www.arup.ie/index.jsp?n=321&p=206


If they were going to put these signs up on the expensive gantries to support them why did they not do it before the gantries went up????


I have a suspicion these signs won't be put up. And if they are traffic will have to be diverted to do it on the - how many signs!?

Anybody know what the story is? I hope they do put up the Variable signage as it would be helpful. Seems very wasteful to have support gantries for VMS and none on them! It actually looks stupid considering the road.





The signs at junctions also support VMS which would be great.


And on a seperate but Mway related matter this is also on the site about roadside emergency phones

The National Roads Authority commissioned Arup Consulting Engineers to investigate the feasibility of the operation of an interim National Emergency Roadside Telephone (ERT) in-station. The main function of the ERT in-station is to accommodate ERT emergency calls from travellers requiring roadside assistance or reporting an incident on the road network. An estimated 1000 new ERT’s will be installed on National Primary Roads in the near future.

The report investigated and evaluated a series of options against functional/performance criteria and made a number of appropriate recommendations.
The main functional and performance criteria of the ERT in-station are identified below:

•Provide a operator user friendly solution
•Allow calls from different ERT suppliers
•Improve Emergency response time
•Allow for future expansion of system
•Ensure adequate redundancy in place in the event of equipment failure
•Identify geographic origin of ERT call
•Provision for ERT hardware diagnostics
•Audio recording Capability
•Allow for ERT use of different communication mediums (i.e. GSM, VOIP etc.)
As part of the process of identifying an adequate solution and developing the report, a detailed site investigation and interviewing process was undertaken of the proposed call centre and operator staff. This assisted in identifying suitable PABX and CRM software for the ERT In-station application.

L1011

...they didn't put them on before the gantries went up, because you can't! They need to be wired in, etc.

Anyway, if they were specified in the contract with M50 Concession, they'll be put up. Its out of the hands of the NRA realistically now - I'd presume they specified them if they want them.

darkman2

MYOB wrote: »

...they didn't put them on before the gantries went up, because you can't! They need to be wired in, etc.

Anyway, if they were specified in the contract with M50 Concession, they'll be put up. Its out of the hands of the NRA realistically now - I'd presume they specified them if they want them.

If it is in the contract!? - after putting up those gantries it would want to be in the contract! And im pretty certain they can be put up at the same time as the gantry aswell. Nothing to prevent such cop on occuring.

BluntGuy

Out of interest, are the ERTs in question the same ones that sprang up on the M6 recently?

L1011

The stuff on the M6 I saw was just the concrete bases for phones, BluntGuy. The ones on the M50 that have just gone in are the standard recent solar powered ones. Only seems to be two recent designs - big solar and little tiny pole-like hardwired one.

The bases appeared to be for the bigger units though.

KevR

A bit off-topic but there seems to be an aweful lot (too many for just counting traffic) of inductive loops on the M4 near Dublin and on the N4 Lucan Bypass. I assume that these were put in with a view to having VMSs at some stage in the future.

I would imagine that the whole VMS system will be installed in one go after the M50 reconstruction has been completed.

For such a system to function correctly all the sensors and all the displays need to be in place, to install on an incomplete motorway could result in a malfunctioning system giving out false information.

csd

Deleted User wrote: »

I would imagine that the whole VMS system will be installed in one go after the M50 reconstruction has been completed.

For such a system to function correctly all the sensors and all the displays need to be in place, to install on an incomplete motorway could result in a malfunctioning system giving out false information.

Commissioning of the larger stand-alone units appears to have started already.

I saw one SB just before the West Link that had the message "M50 Toll/Pay by 8 pm tomorrow" on it last week. They seem to be very high-resolution and very bright compared to the previous smaller units that were on the M50. Clearer than the ones on the M1 as well.

/csd

Roryhy

Found this comment from NRA spokesman Sean O'Neill i a sunday business post article 3rd Feb 2008 link- http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/02/03/story30146.asp

We are currently piloting a VMS system on theM1 and, when the M50 upgrade is complete in 2010, there will be 40 such signs providing information and updates to motorists.

Also of interest http://www.nra.ie/Publications/DownloadableDocumentation/GeneralPublications/file,3508,en.PDF