A3024 Southampton
The A3024 in Southampton is one of the major trunk roads providing access to the city centre from the east. Like many city-centre routes, it is heavily congested throughout the day, with major peaks in traffic volumes at rush hour.
The A3024 in Southampton is one of the major trunk roads providing access to the city centre from the east. Like many city-centre routes, it is heavily congested throughout the day, with major peaks in traffic volumes at rush hour.
In order to understand the traffic issues in-depth, Highways England commissioned WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff to produce a comprehensive study of junction counts, queue lengths, saturation flows, as well as journey times for buses and cars. Tracsis Traffic Data Services was contracted to carry out the surveys that would provide the data for subsequent reports.
Due to the complexities of the road network around the A3024 and the variety of traffic using the road, as well as cyclists and pedestrians, it was not possible to get a true picture of the traffic movement with one survey technique alone. Over a two day period the survey techniques used included:
38 Classified Junction Counts with associated Queue Length & Saturation flows
17 Automatic Traffic Counters
8 Bus Counts
11 Non-Motorised Users (NMU) counts
Car Journey Times surveys
Bus Journey Times surveys
22 ANPR locations
The survey specification brought challenges such as short timescales and securing permissions from the Highways Agents and Local Authority. The Tracsis team had to maintain focus on being able to complete the surveys within the tight timescales, liaising with the Local Authority and providing a robust timetable of events with good project management.
Tracsis worked with WSP and determined the best way to tackle the surveys using the best resource available and making sure that each specific survey was completed using the most appropriate technology or manual techniques available. It was decided that Micro Cameras would provide the best option for the Classified Junction Counts, Queue Counts, Bus Counts, cycle routes and pedestrian sites.
We worked closely with the client to determine the numbers of cameras required at each location to ensure we covered the areas required for analysis. Automatic Traffic Counters were deployed to cover the collection of Volume/Speed and Classification data. Our trained survey staff were used to complete the Car & Bus Journey times. Tracsis Advanced ANPR systems provided the most technical part of the surveys, covering a cordon in the area and building a trip and Journey time matrix for the client to build upon.
For such a large data set, the challenges following the fieldwork are often the most difficult. With our Analysis Centre of Excellence, hosting the best analysts in the country, we managed to provide the client with a robust set of data they required for each of the different modes of transport.
Survey sites on the A3024
"The scope of the work was broad and included junction turning counts, ANPR surveys, ATC counts, journey time surveys, bus counts and non-motorised user counts. Our experience of working together will prove to be mutually beneficial for future data collection projects that we work on."
