Using real-time data to combat summer traffic congestion in Salzburg
With the help of digital data, dynamic steering measures will be taken in a pilot test in Salzburg in the summer travel season 2022: Real-time data on the utilisation of parking and park & ride facilities will be made available to navigation service providers to combat inner-city congestion, especially on bad weather days. All measures in the pilot will be evaluated for their effectiveness.
For an effective control of tourist traffic flows, it is necessary to bring information and control strategies digitally into the navigation systems of road users. In the lead project DOMINO, the research institute Salzburg Research, which specialises in movement data, is working together with the City and Province of Salzburg and ASFINAG to create the technical conditions for networking services and thereby achieving traffic control effects for the traffic situation in and around Salzburg during the summer tourist season.
“Through the networking of services on the basis of European data standards, it will be possible for the first time to bring traffic control measures of the public authorities directly into the navigation systems of road users. Such an automated exchange of data was not possible until now. Parallel to this, a comprehensive, objective picture of the actual traffic situation will be created throughout the summer, which will enable the analysis of the effects of the measures and provide a reliable basis for the planning of further measures,” says mobility data researcher Karl Rehrl from Salzburg Research.
The City of Salzburg’s package of measures for summer traffic was presented at a press conference on 1 July 2022.
Inner-city congestion on bad weather days
In the city of Salzburg, especially on bad weather days in summer, congestion in inner-city parking facilities repeatedly leads to massive traffic jams. “Although the utilisation of parking facilities has been measured in real time for years and has also been made available as Open Government Data (OGD), this data was not previously available in navigation systems,” says mobility data researcher Karl Rehrl from Salzburg Research.
In the pilot test, this data is now made available to navigation service providers via the European data exchange format “Datex II ParkingStatusPublication”. Various information services, including Salzburg Verkehr, wegfinder and the international parking data service Parkopedia, will adopt the Salzburg parking data to inform tourists about any congestion situations.
The Park&Ride facilities Salzburg Messe and Salzburg Süd will also be integrated into the data service with real-time information. This is intended to achieve a steering effect in congestion situations.
Impact monitoring of steering measures
Um die Wirkungen von verkehrssteuernden Maßnahmen zu umfassen, wird im Pilotversuch auch ein umfangreiches Wirkungsmonitoring durchgeführt. Auf Basis der über EVIS.AT berechneten Echtzeit-Verkehrslage werden den gesamten Sommer hindurch Staulängen bzw. Verlustzeiten im gesamten Straßennetz in der Stadt Salzburg erfasst. Darüber hinaus erfolgt eine Erfassung von Verkehrsstärken mit straßenseitigen Detektoren bzw. eine vollständige Erfassung der Auslastungen der Parkeinrichtungen.
About the DOMINO research project
Offering simple, convenient and networked mobility services for all users – that is the vision of DOMINO, the “hub for intermodal mobility services and technologies”. The main goal of the DOMINO research project is the development of an integrated, publicly accessible mobility service (MaaS – Mobility as a Service) that can be used by all users without barriers and at the same time supports the mobility and climate goals of the public sector. In three pilot regions, new services are being created based on the needs of the users and existing services are being integrated into a “MaaS made in Austria” system.
DOMINO Pilot Region Salzburg: Cooperative Traffic Management
In the pilot region of Salzburg, solutions for cooperative traffic control are being tested. In cooperative traffic control, different actors – road operators, navigation or information service providers, MaaS providers – work together with the aim of controlling traffic flows according to defined strategies of the public sector. Private service providers play a central role in this process, as they contribute significantly to their customers’ choice of route and means of transport through traffic information and navigation services. The challenge is, on the one hand, to take into account the interests of the actors and, on the other hand, to create organisational and technical interfaces in order to make control strategies available digitally and to evaluate their effect.
The DOMINO pilot in Salzburg is coordinated by Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH. Project partners are ASFINAG Mautservice GmbH and iMobility GmbH. The pilot is funded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology in the programme Mobility of the Future and supported by the Office of the Salzburg Provincial Government, the City of Salzburg and Verkehrsauskunft Österreich GmbH.
Pictures from the press conference: (c) Stadt Salzburg/Alexander Killer
