The European route E18 runs from Craigavon in the United Kingdom to Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is 1,890km (1,174 miles) long. Does Traficon keep an eye on this highway? Is Traficon watching over you? Yes! In Norway Traficon has already installed its VIP incident modules in various tunnels along the E18; the Hem tunnel, Stenbjørnrød tunnel, Flår tunnel, Kleivene tunnel, Eidet tunnel, etc.
Let’s have a look at one of these E18 projects in more detail:
E18 Frydenhaug – Eik, Kleivene tunnel
The E18 is one of Norway’s most important highways because it connects Oslo to the regions on the south east coast. The Kleivene tunnel is situated near the city of Drammen, 40km to the west of Oslo. This tunnel was the last bit of ‘one lane’ road between Oslo and Tønsberg, and thus dealt with severe queue problems during peak periods. To reduce the number of accidents and daily traffic jams serious investments were made by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA).
This specific project was done in two steps. First a new tunnel was built to cover the two southbound lanes, then the existing tunnel was upgraded to cover the two northbound lanes. During the entire project, traffic could always go through one of the tubes with two-way traffic, while the other was closed for roadworks.
The automatic incident detection system includes one T-port server, a total of 45 VIP incident modules and an OPC interface towards a Rockwell PLC system. The system is connected via Ethernet to the traffic control centre in Porsgrunn, about 100km south, where the tunnel is monitored and controlled remotely.
The first phase of the project was finished in August 2008 with two-way traffic in the southbound tube (33 cameras/detectors). The second phase was finished in January 2009 with 12 cameras/detectors in the northbound tube and re-configuration of the southbound tube to one-way traffic. The tunnel was opened by the Norwegian minister of transport and communications on 28 January 2009.
So next time you cruise past a Traficon installation on the E18, don’t forget to wave! Traficon is watching over you…
