Hello,

I am a new member of the SSC, and I would like to open a new thread concerning traffic solutions in your cities/capitals. I am a driver in Bucharest, and I can tell you the traffic here is insane. :ohno: Actualy, I decided to quit driving for the business days and take the public transportation system as it's faster and less stressful.

I believe congested traffic is a problem in most EE cities, and it'd be interesting to see some solutions so far.

I will try to post some fotos of Bucharest traffic later on.

Cheers,

Le Clerk

Below is an article from Moneyline for the solution the Bucharest city decided to implement to ease the traffic. I am curious to see to what extent it'll change things...


Bucharest City Hall to install video cameras in the capital’s intersections
2007-08-06

Bucharest City Hall will start implementing the Traffic Management project, which will result in the revamping of 100 intersections that will benefit from modern surveillance systems, the capital’s general mayor Adriean Videanu said, according to Newsin.

The mayor noted the Ambulance, the Firemen and the Police will get a green light, as the system allows the changing of the traffic lights, through a fiber optics system.

Another announced project is the called the Public Transportation Management (PTM). This refers to installing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that will enable drivers to exchange information between them and with the control tower.

Bucharest City Hall has started testing surveillance devices at the Eroilor Boulevard and Carol Davila crossroads. Another intersection is the one connecting Tudor Vladimirescu Boulevard with 13 September road. Videanu said the traffic management project will be completed in June 2008.

The total cost of the project stands at 20.6 million euros and it is financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Some 1.8 million euros are destined to consultancy services while 18.8 million euros are destined to the set up of the system.

Here's the acustic map of Bucharest, which gives you a pretty accurate perspective on noise and thus traffic levels in various areas of the city. As you can see, we're in some deep shit.:bash:

More info on the blog (http://blog.paginibucurestene.ro/2007/05/07/harta-acustica-a-capitalei/) (Romanian only).
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4710/hartabigvg9.th.gif (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hartabigvg9.gif)

Stupid question. How do I post pics in my posts? I do not see any button to atach pictures to a message.

Acoustic map of Budapest and its closest neighbours:
http://www.ingatlan-extra.hu/pics/zajterkep%20copy.jpg
And the acoustic map of downtown Budapest:
http://www.privatbankar.hu/cikk-kepek/zajterkep_belvaros.jpg

Stupid question. How do I post pics in my posts? I do not see any button to atach pictures to a message.


the image's url

or

directly paste the links if you upload your pics on imageshack for example




btw I think this thread doesn't belong here, it's better suited in the main sections

and welcome Le Clerk :)

You don't have an upload button, but you can use the image button in your reply form. It's on the second line of buttons, 4th from the right. You press it and enter the link of the image. You'll probably need to use a service like Imageshack (http://imageshack.us) or Image Host (http://www.imagehost.ro/) (from RO).

Alternatively you could just type the link between tags.:)

Thanks, Realek. :-) Do we need to move the thread?

Picture of these days pick hours in one of the main streets in Bucharest.

http://www.varadinum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/image001.jpg

And a pic with traffic from old days.

http://www.show.ro/bucuresti/bucharest/5/images/02Trafic_aglomerat_pe_Calea_Victoriei.jpg

^^

U need to get rid of the spaces now freind (between the IMG tag and the URL) and U got it. Oh and also get rid of the automatic URL generated tag cause it won't work.

BTW welcome :cheers:

Here's the acustic map of Bucharest, which gives you a pretty accurate perspective on noise and thus traffic levels in various areas of the city. As you can see, we're in some deep shit.:bash:

More info on the blog (http://blog.paginibucurestene.ro/2007/05/07/harta-acustica-a-capitalei/) (Romanian only).
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4710/hartabigvg9.th.gif (http://img80.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hartabigvg9.gif)

That's also because there are a lot of stupid drivers who horn their cars thinking they can fix the congestion. :guns1: I thought there are some regulations for horning in cities, but who cares about them? Not even the police apparently.

Hope it works now. BTW, I am not the best in computer related stuff. So, if I do any mistakes, I apologize in advance.

Picture of these days pick hours in one of the main streets in Bucharest.

www.varadinum.com/wp-content/...1/image001.jpg

And a pic with traffic from old days.

www.show.ro/bucuresti/buchare..._Victoriei.jpg

I've never been to a city where drivers honk so much and for so stupid reasons. Say I'm stoped at the traffic light and it turns green, I don't even have time to put the car in the first gear cause they already honk... even though not even a second has passed since it turned green. How stupid can you be? WTF?!

Btw, it works now... :p
http://www.varadinum.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/image001.jpg
http://www.show.ro/bucuresti/bucharest/5/images/02Trafic_aglomerat_pe_Calea_Victoriei.jpg

But what you're doing now is called hotlinking and it's a bit bad, since it uses the server where the pictures are stored to display them here. It's better to use Imageshack or something. :) Not to mention that, as you can see, the photos are very large and visually clutter the page.

The Kyiv ring road is a part of the programme to alleviate traffic congestion:

http://ura-inform.com/img/newses/obezd-big-zn_5efe8990a6f22dfdb4e685e6d014b0c0[79377].jpg

Cost is approximately 5-5.5 billion USD. Of course 40% of this money will be stolen :(

Very good project for Kiev:okay:

In Belgrade, we have the new ring-road project as well...its still a little murky as to how long it will eventually be and how much it will end up costing. Its been under construction since the crazy 1990's and there are delays every now & then, due to lack of finances.

http://www.politika.co.yu/eaadmin/catpics/N39467_obqmT6Qgxn5NbOVKgtqsq0GtygA4o8G5m6E.gif

Some claim it will be completed by 2012 but we will see;)

There is also the "Unutrasnji Magistralni Prsten" (UMP) or internal magistral ring road project, meant to ease the traffic in the city center itself.

http://www.beoland.com/pic/umpkarta.jpg

The new Sava river bridge will be an important part of the UMP project:

http://www.beoland.com/aktuelnosti/pic/07/070604_1.jpg

http://www.beoland.com/aktuelnosti/pic/07/070604_2.jpg

http://www.beoland.com/aktuelnosti/pic/07/070604_3.jpg


The SMP (Spoljasnji Magistralni Prsten - External Magistral Ring Road) route is still in planning so there's no map for that.

Belgrade needs at least three more bridges (one over Sava, two over Danube) to help with the traffic flow ... city's current bridges are pretty much at capacity.

Gazela Bridge
http://www.blic.co.yu/_customfiles/Image/slike/2007/oktobar/10/beograd/most_1.jpg

For Prishtina...similarly to Kiev and Belgrade....it will have 3 ring roads in the near future. The most outter ring will be 40 kilometers long, following with the middle ring at 20 km long, and the most inner ring being at 10 km long.

This is a more of a longterm solution to our traffic conjestion.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/liburni/2.jpg

For more immediate solutions, the city has widened streets, roads:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/liburni/PHOT0277.jpg?t=1186412383

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/liburni/PHOT0276.jpg?t=1186412363

For Prishtina...similarly to Kiev and Belgrade....it will have 3 ring roads in the near future. The most outter ring will be 40 kilometers long, following with the middle ring at 20 km long, and the most inner ring being at 10 km long.

This is a more of a longterm solution to our traffic conjestion.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/liburni/2.jpg

For more immediate solutions, the city has widened streets, roads:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/liburni/PHOT0277.jpg?t=1186412383

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/liburni/PHOT0276.jpg?t=1186412363

3 ring roads seem a bit obsessive for a small city like Prishtina.

I totally agree pavlo...but as you can see the outter most ring, is a regional road that wraps around three sides of the city and then leads to two different cities to the east....It doesnt take much to connect that regional road (with the white strip on th map) to turn it into a ring road.

As for the middle and inner ring road, they are totally neccessary and not as big. Keep in mind, Prishtina's population has exploded as a result of many different reasons in recent years.

Pavle maybe doesn't realize that while cities may build infrastructure that sounds similar -- ie. "three ring roads" in both Kiev, Belgrade and Pristina - they build it to fit the required needs.

Which is why, in Kiev, the outer ring road will be ~200km long, in Belgrade about ~100km and in Pristina ~40km;)

Personally, I would compare Pristina to Ljubljana or Bratislava, both of which already have or plan a number of ring roads and highways. Bratislava will have two highways leading to Vienna, north & south:nuts:

Pavle maybe doesn't realize that while cities may build infrastructure that sounds similar -- ie. "three ring roads" in both Kiev, Belgrade and Pristina - they build it to fit the required needs.

Which is why, in Kiev, the outer ring road will be ~200km long, in Belgrade about ~100km and in Pristina ~40km;)

Personally, I would compare Pristina to Ljubljana or Bratislava, both of which already have or plan a number of ring roads and highways. Bratislava will have two highways leading to Vienna, north & south:nuts:

I agree....I dont think we have money to be obbsessive with any project right now...I think it is to simply answer the present needs. As far as the comparison....I think ljubljana is in a different world similar with Bratislave....Prishtina has many challenges ahead.

But in that map i posted...the highway in red....that will be the highway between Durres and Prishtina, all the way to the border with Serbia. Hopefully Serbia can complete a section from the border to NIS sometime in the future and connect this new highway with the Corridor that runs from Belgrade to Skopje to Thessaloniki.

Personally, I would compare Pristina to Ljubljana or Bratislava, both of which already have or plan a number of ring roads and highways.Ljubljana already has a motorway ring and doesn't plan any more outer one, but it does plan 2 inner rings, which will IMO take more than a decade to build. Bratislava is planning a motorway ring, but will also take it a decade to build, as it features a 9-km tunnel. However it's not so urgently needed, as there are motorways intersecting it, so now you can already drive in all transit directions without leaving motorway.

Previously posted on another thread


Urban Traffic Control Project, Bucharest - project value: circa 21,000,000 Euro Design and installation of a state-of-the-art UTC system - To be completed by June 2008

"Bucharest traffic will be managed by a control center, starting next year. Satellite surveillance of the ambulance, fire fighting and police vehicles, so that they are given green light towards the intervention area, as well as intelligent traffic light control to unblock crowded crossroads electronically are but a few of the characteristics of the new traffic management system.

Once the structure rehabilitated, the traffic management system introduces three priority systems. The first priority level is for the ambulance, fire fighters and police along with the other state authorities that must intervene rapidly, according to the legal provisions. A GPS system will give green light to the ambulance or the firefighting vehicles in order to avoid unpleasant incidents, Bucharest's general mayor Adriean Videanu told a news conference on Sunday.

According to the traffic management project the traffic lights of the central areas of the city will be computer-assisted, the big crossroads will be rehabilitated and refurbished with video cameras and the transportation means of Bucharest Public Transport Authority (RATB) will be monitored via the satellite.

Traffic management project will begin in mid August (2007) with the reconfiguration of two important crossroads in Bucharest. They will be equipped with an intelligent traffic light system, able to make decisions such as changing traffic lights duration based on the information received by video cameras and the priority requests by the ambulance, fire fighting or police or public transport vehicles.

All the 100 crossroads in the center of the city and those on the north-south traffic axis will be similarly equipped, Bucharest general mayor informed."

^^^^
BTW Official document showing commissioning and testing scheduled for June 2008 :cheers:
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/3591/32905829kc9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^^^ Updated Sept 2007
First two "intelligent crossroads" ... already ON :cheers:

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/8092/56089140xt7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Same system already implemented in London, Paris, Dublin, Madrid, Torino etc

http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=322942#

... also another project ... "TRAMWAY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM" - http://www.integralconsulting.ro/Documente/Poster_MANTRA_RO.pdf

On 29.09.2006, the Scientific Symposium referring to the finalization and implementation of the project "TRAMWAY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM" - A PILOT SYSTEM was held at the premises of R.A.T.B. Giurgiu Depot.

Live demos (in real time) of monitoring the tramways along route 12 in Bucharest were performed in the Dispatcher office at Giurgiu Depot. The images on the computer in the Dispatcher Office, as displayed for the guests, allowed them to track moment by moment the tramways running along this route, namely each tramway number, the exact time of its arrival to the stop, as well as a comparison to the preset running schedule. The synoptic diagram on the screen warned in a suggestive way, through the tramway colour code, about any deviation (delay or arrival ahead of schedule) above the limit admitted of as per the graph.

A Certificate of Validation of the "TRAMWAY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM" - A PILOT SYSTEM was issued.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=15052289&postcount=297

This is from the website of the National Authority for Road and Motorway Administration. They plan to build a second ringroad for Bucharest as a 4 lane motorway which should be linked to motorways coming from Transilvania, Moldova and Constantza. They are under feasability study status and are planned to be finished by 2011. It will be about 100 km long.

I also understand that the current ringroad will be turned into a expressway. I'll look for more info on this.
:cheers:
http://www.andnet.ro/dezvoltare/S-E.jpg

Ljubljana already has a motorway ring and doesn't plan any more outer one, but it does plan 2 inner rings, which will IMO take more than a decade to build. Bratislava is planning a motorway ring, but will also take it a decade to build, as it features a 9-km tunnel. However it's not so urgently needed, as there are motorways intersecting it, so now you can already drive in all transit directions without leaving motorway.

Very good idea. This indeed relieves the traffic. The ring-roads cannot take most of the traffic within a city. It needs good inner-rings. Does Ljubljana have enough free space to do that? If not, are they going to demolish something?

^^ Welcome Le Clerk !

I think we could have a special thread for the Basarab overpass, but right now I'm too lazy to make it, so if anybody has most of the details & pictures of the project and time to make it...

I agree with Sbz2ifc. If you have a good knowledge on Bucharest`s infrastructure projects don`t hesitate to open such a thread in [Projects and Construction Updates] section.

* eu am gasit machetele de la podurile Basarab dar parca nu m-as incumeta sa deschid un thread [Bucharest`s infrastructure - projects and constructions]bazandu-ma doar pe machetele astea : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=16056056&postcount=761

^^ http://www1.pmb.ro/pmb/primar/proiecte/Pasaj_Basarab/pasaj.pdf

We got something like this at most streets:

http://www.blogs.region35.ru/blogs/Anasteziolog/files/1164722092.JPG

:runaway:

Thius is unbelivable. And I thought the wide streets in Moscow were wide enough...

Very good idea. This indeed relieves the traffic. The ring-roads cannot take most of the traffic within a city. It needs good inner-rings. Does Ljubljana have enough free space to do that? If not, are they going to demolish something?I'm sure they will have to demolish some things, but parts of the future rings already exist (often just 2-laned), so we're not at the beginning. However, two 2-km tunnels will have to be built, on the picture you can see them as the dashed lines (a bit strange circles, I know):

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee119/Verso1/Ljubljana-ringroads.jpg
http://www.trajekt.org/pictures/zasnova_prometnega_omrezja.jpg

One of the bridges (4-laned) will cross the Ljubljanica River in two floors (pedestrians under) and run through a building, which mustn't be demolished, as it's part of the cultural heritage. They start building it next year:

http://www.mladina.si/tednik/200603/clanek/kul--arhitektura-ursa_marn/img/a-cukrarna_most_display.jpg
http://www.mladina.si/tednik/200603/clanek/kul--arhitektura-ursa_marn/img/a-cukrarna_most_display.jpg

Unfortunately we can't see how it will actually pass through the building.

Actually it needn't really pass through the building, that part that will be demolished isn't protected (and it's the part where the road goes between the two buildings seen on the render), but the city said it's gonna ask the designers to try and keep as much of the building as possible, meaning the building will probably span over the bridge..

Pavlo, how concrete are the plans for the Kiev ring road?