ATM control system

Increasing use of the motorway system is resulting in increases in congestion, causing flow breakdown (stop/start traffic), so leading to unreliable journey times and the increased risk of accidents. In response to the Government´s 10 Year Plan for Transport, Active Traffic Management (ATM) was conceived in 2000/01 as a means of pro-actively tackling this problem by making better use of the existing motorway network, so supporting the HA key objectives of safer roads, more reliable journey times and informed travellers. The ATM control system (CS) Consultancy contract was let in January 2003, to provide for the specification, safety management, development and delivery of a control system that will provide the necessary control capability to allow the ATM concept to be fully realised. This paper describes the challenges, processes and experience of the ATM CS Consultancy team, from the start of the contract in January 2003 to the current stage of preparing for issue of the competitive tender for the development of the ATM CS.