This paper was presented at the `Intelligent Transportation System Applications' session. With the opening of the Northumberland Strait Bridge in 1997, a new phase in the history of Canada's Maritime Provinces will begin as motorists are able to drive directly across the 13km waterway separating New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. This paper discusses the systems and equipment which have been designed to address traffic management issues related to the operation of the bridge. Due to the bridge's isolation and low traffic volumes, the primary focus of the Traffic Management System (TMS) is on motorist safety, security and information rather than congestion management. The TMS provides three main functions: monitoring, management and response. Tolls will be collected from vehicles as they leave Prince Edward Island. The Toll System is designed to carry out this function while minimizing delays and accommodating extreme seasonal variations in traffic volumes. The Toll System includes: seven toll lanes, six for cars and/or trucks and one for cars only; manual toll collection in six lanes and a self-serve credit card payment unit in the cars only lane; post-classification equipment to gather data for audit purposes; computer network to support operating, auditing and reporting functions. (A)
Samenvatting