Abu Dhabi on course for smarter roads

In a bid to reduce the number of road crashes, improve speed limit compliance and cut back on the emission of greenhouse gases, Abu Dhabi is planning to build a state-of-the-art transportation management centre incorporating a number of integrated intelligent transportation systems to improve management of road networks in the region.

In line with the Abu Dhabi Plan 2030 and the Department of Transport's own Surface Transport Master Plan, the ministry recently announced its Integrated Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) strategy for the emirate. The new strategy, which incorporates a five-year project plan, will act as a support system to the transportation infrastructure developments taking place in Abu Dhabi to achieve the emirate's stated aim of building a world-class transportation system.

The strategy divides initiatives into six program packages, including Regional Active Traffic Management and Information (ATM), Urban Traffic Optimisation Management and Information, Public Transport Management and Information, Road Works Management and Information, Freight Management, and Integrated Operations.

"The main goal behind the ITS strategy is to create a world-class transportation system in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi," says HE Eng. Khalid Mohamed Hashim, Executive Director of Land Transport at the Department of Transport. "Traditionally, this has typically meant building new highways and other infrastructure. However, it has become clear that the future of transportation is increasingly dependent on ITS."

ITS utilise advanced communications and information technologies to move people and goods in a faster, safer and more efficient manner and include a number of services that will help ease problems of congestion, insufficient transport infrastructure, increasing emissions and growing customer needs. Key focuses of the ITS strategy include coordination efforts with other relevant parties in planning, designing and operating the ITS, in addition to establishing a state-of-the-art multi-modal, multi-agency transportation management centre.

ITS applications will be of great benefit to both concerned departments and the public. Initial deployment will focus on the management of traffic and incidents along limited-access highways in the Abu Dhabi metropolitan region, while the Abu Dhabi Transportation Management Centre (ADTMC) will be built according to best international practices and will provide consolidated and integrated operations facilities. The new facility will have the ability to accommodate traffic, public transport operations and safety, and dispatch/operations personnel from different governmental agencies.

Operating 24 hours a day throughout the year, the ADTMC will be responsible for the integration of regional and urban traffic management, public transport management and operations, traveller information and coordinated incident and emergency management in the Transportation Network. The ADTMC will also serve as a nerve centre for network activities in Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain, Al Gharbia and other locations in the emirate as developed. The Department of Transport will have full responsibility for integrated operations of highways, major streets and traffic signals, and public transport services (bus, metro, rail and water transport), with full coordination with other governmental agencies - in particular, Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters.

"We are confident that the implementation of the ITS strategy in the emirate will result in many benefits, including a reduction in the number of road crashes, improvements in speed limit compliance, and a diminishing of greenhouse emissions," says, HE Khalid Mohamed, adding: "DoT appreciates all the stakeholders input who helped shape this strategy, in particular Abu Dhabi Police, Department of Municipal Affairs, Urban Planning Council, Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre."

Various services will be offered to the public via ITS, such as Arabic and English automated voice broadcasts offering current travel time, congestion and incident advisory information via the Highway Advisory Radio. Displays of dynamic messaging signs are also to be provided ahead of route decision points, particularly at approaches to bridges and freeway-to-freeway interchanges.  Additional CCTV cameras, dynamic en-route in-car navigation, and web and mobile phone information services will be implemented as part of the strategy to allow for easy access of information to drivers.

The nature of the strategic ITS projects take time to implement, therefore the report recommends a number of quick-deployment solutions.  Among those quick-win projects currently in the tendering stage are portable variable message signs, incident detection stations, non-citation traffic cameras and a web-based traffic congestion GIS platform that will help the region tremendously. Future ITS strategy plans for Abu Dhabi include providing weather and speed advisory information on rural routes in the emirate, parking information for central business districts and information systems for future public transport projects.

However, not everyone is convinced the system will solve all the emirate's road traffic ills, with some calling for better driver training in a bid to improve safety. "How about we spend some time teaching people to drive instead of the lane-cutting, signal-jumping, speed-limit-flaunting chaos currently practiced on UAE roads?" asks a blogger on business analysis site Kipp Report. The suggestion raises an interesting question: what makes a system intelligent, the network itself or its users? Better education would certainly go a long way towards improving driver awareness as to the potential hazards of the road network - and their own role in reducing those hazards. It's an issue Abu Dhabi must answer if it is to fully realise the benefits of its expensive new solution.

Making parking safer and easier

Recent studies have shown that the number of registered vehicles in Abu Dhabi increases by 16 percent annually, while the number of new driving licenses rises by 10 percent each year on average. The statistics highlight the importance of developing cutting-edge solutions such as automated car parking facilities in order to effectively manage the increasingly difficult parking situation in Abu Dhabi.

In response, the Department of Transportation has invited a number of specialised companies to bid for the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of two automated car parking facilities in the area of Al Salam Street as part of a public private partnership model designed to better manage the development of automated car parking in the emirate. Five companies were qualified after initial evaluations to submit their designs and technical/ financial offers after fulfilling the conditions set by the DoT, and the tender will be awarded in early 2011.

The parking management programme - called Mawaqif - provides a sustainable solution aimed at ensuring more accessible and less congested city. Eng. Najib Al Zarooni, General Manager of Parking at the Department of Transport, believes that the partnership element of the programme is key to its success. "The active coordination between the public and private sectors contributes to the development of Mawaqif initiatives," he explains. "In addition, it provides the proper elements for competition as well as collaboration and integration in the benefit of achieving Mawaqif in respect to the overall strategic plan. Our partnership with the private sector will provide an opportunity to innovate."

Al Zarooni sees the role of Mawaqif as not only to provide parking in Abu Dhabi, but also to develop sustainable services and sophisticated measures to make the use of public parking easier. "Automated parking is one of the most modern technologies that contributes to solving traffic problems; it saves a lot of space normally allocated to conventional parking," he says. "This reflects the extent of our commitment to providing the best means of comfort for the general public and reducing their parking challenges. With automated car parking, drivers can just stop their car at the entrance and leave within a few seconds. More so, automated parking is very safe."

The initiative supports Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 and the Department of Transport's plans to place Abu Dhabi as one of the world's leading places with regards to mobility, connectivity and transport.