The Traffic along 2nd and 3rd Class Roads is Already being Counted 24 Hours a Day and 365 Days a Year
Over 2,8 million BGN supplied by Operational Program Regional Development were invested in the building up of the first automatic traffic data collection system along the national roads of 2nd and 3rd class.
The Project is financed through Priority Axis 5 „Technical Assistance“ of Operational Program Regional Development 2007 – 2013 under Grant Contract BG161PO001/5-01/2008/059 „Optimization of Road Infrastructure Agency for Management of Programs and Projects Financed by European Funds“. The traffic data collection system along the 2nd and 3rd classs road network is with 120 automatic devices, which report the traffic 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Up to now this information was collected completely manually. The new system has been the dream of the road branch for decades on end, the Chairman of the Management Board of Road Infrastructure Agency, eng. Lazar Lazarov emphasized. He indicated that the expedience of the implemented construction and assembly works and the sustainability of the projects in time were proved through counting of the traffic along the road network. The intensity of the traffic is one of the most significant indicators for evaluation and analysis of the need of investment projects in the road network.
The technology of the system is based on a combination of cameras, which recognize the passing motor vehicles and determine the direction of movement in a software manner. Classification of the kinds of motor vehicles is made through inductive frames located in the road pavement in seven classes – cars, light-freight and heavy-freight motor vehicles, buses and etc.. The Project Manager from Road Infrastructure Agency Miroslav Tsenov explained that the system may trace the generation of the road traffic through its origin, destination, direction and time for passing.
91 of the installed traffic counters are along 2nd class roads and 29 – along 3rd class roads. The test counts made so far have proven that the busiest second-class road is II-18 Sofia Ring Road. Between 20 thousand and 35 thousand motor vehicles pass along it at the average per day. The traffic is intensive also along road II-81 Kostinbrod – Montana – between 15 000 and 20 000 motor vehicles a day, II-17 Botevgrad – Mezdra – about 10 000 motor vehicles a day, II-64 Plovdiv – Graf Ignatievo – nearly 15 000 motor vehicles a day, II-99 Chernomorets – Primorsko – between 10 000 and 15 000 motor vehicles a day, II-19 Razlog – Bansko – between 5 000 and 10 000 motor vehicles a day, II-15 Vratsa – Oryahovo – between 7 000 and 10 000 motor vehicles a day, road II-62 Dupnitsa – Samokov – about 10 000 motor vehicles a day etc.
The traffic intensity is a basic value for each analysis for proving the need of capital expenditures, eng. Dobroslav Simeonov – Head of Department in the Central Institute of Road Technologies, National and European Norms and Standards with the Road Infrastructure Agency also explained. Average speed of movement and the evaluation of the time saved during trip, which are set forth as input indicators for assessment of the attained results of the goals of the projects financed by the European funds, are directly related to traffic intensity.
The automatic traffic data collection system was built up by Telelink EAD. The contract value is 2 399 040 BGN exclusive of VAT or 2 878 848 BGN inclusive of VAT.