The National Roads Authority (NRA) has launched a pilot scheme to provide real-time travel information to motorists travelling along the N7.

The section of the N7 between Rathcoole and the M50 sees the heaviest traffic flows in the country, with more than 150,000 vehicles passing daily through the Red Cow interchange alone. As you can imagine, travel times along this stretch of road can be unpredictable at best, and downright frustrating at other times.

But all that could be about to change, with the new Traffic Management System from the NRA, called the ATMS (Advanced Traffic Management System). Non-intrusive radar-based counters have been mounted on roadside poles at 500 metre intervals along the northbound carriageway of the N7 between Rathcoole and the M50.

These counters collect vital information along this stretch of road - vehicle speed, traffic volume and lane occupancy - and send this data back to the NRA's Traffic Management System every 60 seconds. The ATMS them applies an algorithm to this traffic data, and is able to calculate the current travel time. The system then sends these travel time details to Variable Message Signs on the N7 - one trailer-mounted sign before Rathcoole, and one fixed sign at the weigh station after the weigh station after the Rathcoole Interchange - where they will display the estimated travel time to the M50 interchange at the Red Cow Roundabout.

Perhaps more importantly, this information is also sent directly to the pilot system's own website www.n7.ie. This means that anyone who intends to travel, or has friends or family travelling, along this stretch of road has a much more accurate idea of the travel conditions at any particular time, and can plan their travel journey more accurately in advance.

The web site uses a dynamic mapping interface to provide traffic information. The map consists of a number of information layers of that can be toggled to display or hide the various types of information. 'Clickable' Icons are positioned on the map that will display live traffic information, including road weather data, traffic camera images and message sign settings.

Travel time information is displayed as junction-to-junction links showing both the current travel estimate in minutes and the typical travel time to make this journey at the same time of day in previous weeks. Colouration of the roadway is used to convey the speed of the traffic, green for free-flowing traffic, amber for heavy traffic and red for congested traffic conditions.

TRAVEL TIMES N7 North Rathcoole to M50 Status From To Typical Travel Time Current Travel Time Distance

In addition to the mapping page, the web site also contains a number of sections, these are described below:

Users of the website can also register for alerts, to ensure they are always kept up to date. The alerts can be chosen in two formats - email or SMS - to suit every individual who has either a mobile phone or a laptop or PC. Two type of traffic alert are available, Unusual Travel Time and Severe Event alerts. Unusual travel time alerts will be sent when the current travel time in the user's region of interest has exceeded the historic travel time by more than 2 times (N7 Northbound only). Severe event alerts will be sent when a major traffic incident has occurred within the user's region of interest (N7 and M50).

Although this system is a pilot system in Ireland, Intelligent Transport Systems are proving successful in a number of European countries. It is hoped, following feedback from this system, that similar systems can be deployed on other sections of the road network in the future. The NRA is already planning on rolling out a similar system between Balbriggan and the Port Tunnel along the M1 Motorway, towards the end of this year. And if the ATMS is as successful as NRA predict, you can expect to see more schemes like the N7 pilot scheme coming to a road near you soon!