Softech

VEGA, the Softech suite installed as Motorway Management System at the Brenner Motorway Service Center, is the protagonist of the European BrennerLEC project.

The project

The BrennerLEC project is carried out in the context of a sensible area like the Alps with the objective of increasing a “Lower Emission Corridor” (LEC).

The project aims to implement and validate a set of different dynamic policies that have the goal to provide a substantial environmental benefit in terms of air quality, climate protection and noise reduction, covering;

1. Dynamic road capacity management which aims to reduce speed limits in correspondence of intense traffic flows and temporary introduce an additional third lane during nearly saturated traffic conditions;
2. Dynamic speed limits management to be applied to light vehicles as a function of current and predicted air quality condition.

VEGA, a key part of the project

Exactly about these two elements, the GECO  application has been implemented. GECO is a module of the suite VEGA, already used by Utility Service Operators, to record events that occur on the motorway route and to automatically manage the user information and the text to be displayed on the variable message signs.

For the BrennerLEC project two new types of event have been introduced:

BrennerLEC B4: it allows the Radio Room to handle the message to be displayed on the signs on the Bolzano-San Michele section

BrennerLEC B3: it allows to manage messages to be displayed on panels in the dynamic third lane from Trento to Rovereto.

During the event, the GECO program automatically calculates the text and chooses the appropriate icon and speed limits to show in the variable message displays.
Upon operator confirmation, messages are displayed until the event is completed.
With this procedure, the User Support Center can view at a glance whether the BrennerLEC event is active and automatically handle message display.
The GECO system also provides historical analysis of messages which, supported by the air quality values, will document the operation and verify the effectiveness of the project.