As part of the EU project “Strengthening the public transport system”, in 2020 Rijeka obtained a modern traffic light system at six locations, i.e. smart traffic lights, and also two surveillance cameras.
Six crossroads in the western part of the city were selected for the introduction of smart traffic lights, that were equipped with obsolete traffic lights: Liburnijska – junction towards the shopping centre construction site, Zvonimirova – Zametska – Liburnijska, Liburnijska – Pionirska, Liburnijska – Vera Bratonje, Diračje junction – west and Diracje Junction – east. The Diračje junction and the intersection with Zvonimirova-Zametska-Liburnijska streets also received video cameras for traffic monitoring.
CROSSROAD LIBURNIJSKA – PIONIRSKA
The new technology enables the traffic light crossroads in question to function in the so-called “Traffic-dependent operation”, i.e. that the cycles of exchange of red, yellow and green signals, based on automatic traffic counting, are adjusted to the actual number of vehicles (amount of traffic) passing through the crossroad. This is achieved by installing special video traffic detectors at all crossroads, which register the passage of each vehicle, and the data collected in this way is processed by a computer that regulates the cycles of traffic lights changes.
The modernisation of traffic lights enables full remote monitoring and management of traffic lights at the City Traffic Centre, analytics and remote reporting of all irregularities in the work, and automatic collection of data on traffic loads.
The new traffic light equipment is connected to the City Traffic Centre, i.e. included in the existing system of centralised traffic control and management. The application of modern technology in the field of intelligent transport systems (ITS) has thus improved traffic flows and increased the safety of all traffic participants. In addition to the crossroads, modernisation also included software upgrades for control applications in the City Traffic Centre and a completely new application for monitoring traffic loads Spectra II.
Traffic light lanterns of modern LED technology have been installed, which enable direct savings in electricity consumption of about 75 percent compared to classic halogen bulbs used in old traffic light equipment.
The valuable investment is part of the EU project “Strengthening the public transport system”, which is funded under the Cohesion Fund through the Integrated Territorial Investment Mechanism (ITI mechanism) within the Rijeka Urban Agglomeration.
By using significant resources from EU funds for projects in the field of advanced ITS technologies, the City of Rijeka has opened a new chapter in the programme of sustainable urban transport development. As for many years so far, by applying advanced ITS solutions in urban mobility, the City of Rijeka sets an example to other cities and regions how to follow modern European and world trends in sustainable traffic management.