Operation

ASFINAG Service GmbH (SG) and ASFINAG Alpenstraßen GmbH (ASG) are responsible for ensuring operation of the motorways and expressways including maintenance and servicing of the necessary infrastructure and provision of optimal customer information. Within their respective service region (ASG for Tirol and Vorarlberg, SG for the other provinces), they are responsible for all activities relating to operational maintenance, maintaining electrical equipment, as well as asset and traffic management. All structural and operational activities are geared towards meeting strategic targets such as increasing customer satisfaction, ensuring network availability, optimising performance standards and economic efficiency.

Some 2,178 kilometres have to be maintained, and rest areas and parking facilities cleaned. In the winter, snow has to be cleared while renewal and repair works start in spring, green areas have to be cared for, trees and bushes cut and technical installations inspected. Tunnel facilities also have to be washed and safety installations inspected. Staff are based at the tunnel control centres all year round to monitor events in tunnels closely and be able to intervene immediately if an incident occurs thus ensuring road safety. Staff at the ASFINAG Traffic Control Centre in Inzersdorf keep a constant watch over what is going on in the entire road network. On their screens, the ASFINAG operators see all sections equipped with traffic control systems and can react to any disruptions in the traffic flow. Thus road users are informed quickly of any obstructions and ambulance, fire brigade, police or motorway operation and maintenance facility staff can quickly be called to the scene. The winter service team, for instance, consists of some 1,500 staff who are on duty 24 hours a day to ensure driveability on motorways and expressways. To this end ASFINAG uses state-of-the art technical equipment and tools ranging from precise weather forecasts to computer-controlled gritting.

ASFINAG Mobility Management – intelligent traffic management

The holiday season means traffic jams. Scientific studies have shown that sudden breaking manoeuvres by drivers who drive too fast and get too close to the vehicle in front of them particularly when traffic volumes are high may cause chain reactions resulting in a complete traffic standstill. In order to minimise such phenomena, ASFINAG was entrusted with the task of traffic management.

Collecting and analysing data for traffic management

Traffic telematics combines information, communication and automatisation technology within an intelligent closed loop system. At the beginning there is comprehensive nationwide collection of traffic data and at the end there is increased safety, driving comfort and performance.

What sounds complicated is quite easily explained: more than 2,000 sensors along Austria’s motorway and expressway network are used to collect all traffic-relevant data, such as:

• Traffic volumes and frequencies, speed and distance of vehicles
• Weather-related data, such as rain or snowfall, road surface conditions such as wetness or slipperiness
• Noise and pollutant emmissions
• Special incidents like drivers driving the wrong way up the motorway, accidents, break-downs or construction sites

If an accident happens, these sensors register that there is a slowing down or standstill in traffic flow. The installations will fully automatically and gradually reduce the speed limits displayed on the road-side speed limit indicators. So, if the traffic control facilities were for instance set at a speed limit of 100 km/h before the incident, they will then show 80 km/h down to 60 km/h as necessary, in order to warn drivers in time that they are approaching the tail end of a traffic hold-up.

On their screens the ASFINAG operators see all sections equipped with traffic control systems. If traffic flows are smooth, the respective sections are coloured green. But as soon as the sensors register changes, the colour changes to orange through to red. The operator responds by having this particular road section displayed on the screen by one of the 500 roadside digital cameras installed along the Austrian motorway and expressway network. He/she may then call up the camera image and contact the police who will then take appropriate action such as closing the affected lanes etc. as necessary.
This enables a reduction in the number of rear-end collisions, which are among the most frequent causes of accidents.

Taking Action against Traffic Hold-ups – Harmonisation of Traffic

Studies corroborate what practice has shown: the largest number of vehicles per hour passes through a road section at consistently maintained speed levels of between 70 and 80 kilometres per hour. At this constant speed, traffic flows are optimised. This means that even during times of increased traffic volumes it is possible for the optimal number of vehicles per hour to pass through a road section. This harmonisation of traffic flows, also necessary following a traffic incident for instance, is achieved by using the sensor data fed into ASFINAG traffic management’s master computer. State-of-the-art traffic models are used to calculate the speeds to be set. These speeds are then set in real time on the traffic control installations: Customers are thus kept informed of the new speed limit and steady progress of moving traffic is maintained.

The Computing Centre

An intelligent traffic infrastructure is the basis for a comprehensive, modern and customer-oriented traffic concept. Since 2005, the control centre in Wien-Inzersdorf has played a central role in ASFINAG’s future-oriented, nation-wide traffic management and information system.. The centre’s high-speed computers evaluate and process the data collected in real time.

In line with its commitment to sharing information with drivers, ASFINAG set up about 340 kilometres of section management installations including the facilities installed in the regions covered by air pollution control legislation and about 630 kilometres of network control installations, which can, for instance, be used to route drivers via variable electronic traffic signs along detours. Staff from ASFINAG’s traffic management department operate, service and maintain these installations 24 hours seven days a week.

While other countries tend to have a lot of isolated solutions which make uniform traffic management difficult, central control of the entire Austrian motorway and expressway facilitates smooth coordination. As the sole interface, the 30 employees of ASFINAG Traffic Management are responsible for:

• collecting data covering approx. 2,170 kilometres of motorways and expressways
• managing and maintaining traffic control facilities
• managing and maintaining noise and pollution monitoring facilities
• managing and maintaining network control facilities (electronic traffic signs) and communicating traffic information (via the electronic text message boards)
• coordinating traffic management with other European traffic management centres

Flexible Signage Systems

ASFINAG uses dynamic message boards that are installed on overhead bridges and display text or traffic sign information as well as electronic traffic signs to inform road users in real time of events on the section of the primary road network they are approaching next so that they may react accordingly. Other means used by ASFINAG to share traffic information with road users are electronic traffic signs with signal lights and changeable text messages.