NTCC
In March 2001 the Highways Agency (HA) selected Serco to deliver and operate its National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC). This £160M project gives motorists the information to plan their journeys, avoid traffic and make the best use of network capacity for the next 10 years. The HA manages England’s motorways and trunk roads - a network representing just 2% of all roads but carrying a third of all traffic and two-thirds of all freight.
Intelligent transport system
As the UK has the most congested roads in Europe (being three times busier than Germany and five times as busy as France, Portugal or Austria), the success of the NTCC is key to influencing traffic movements and selecting the most appropriate response to weather conditions.
This means that if a section of road is closed or restricted, the system checks the traffic flow and journey times on every alternative route. It suggests only those diversions that offer travellers the minimum delay to their journey. The system is intelligent enough to check if any diversionary routes are restricted by road works or abnormal loads, or if any events nearby are likely to increase congestion.
The NTCC’s highly-trained operators work in close co-operation with the police and any other partners that can influence traffic movements in the area.
Working in partnership
Built under a public/private partnership, the NTCC is an exercise in teamwork, taking information from hundreds of operational partners and fusing it with real-time data from thousands of traffic sensors.
All this raw information comes together in a unique Serco-developed decision-support system which can analyse countless options to offer our operators a range of prioritised response plans based on network conditions at the time.
NTCC can reach its target audiences through a variety of channels:
- 350 variable message signs at key decision point junctions on the network
- Over 250 operating partners including broadcast media, local highways authorities, the police, ports and airports, exhibition centres, sporting venues and other major traffic generators.
- The Traffic England (Please note: this link will open the page in a new browser window) website and interactive telephone service
- System-to-system links with other network operators using the Travel Information Highway which is a common framework for exchanging travel data over the internet
As well as real-time traffic management, the NTCC also collects and maintains huge amounts of data on the nature and performance of the road network. This data includes a database of network characteristics, information about traffic events, traffic flow, journey times, and weather and its impact on congestion. This information is constantly used to refine traffic management practices and to inform the HA’s network enhancement decisions.
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| VAS Sign Outside School The VAS Sign is situated mainly at schools, crossings and acts as a passive speed indicator. | MWAY2 NTCC control system monitors traffic conditions on the whole of the strategic road network in England. |
For more information on our capabilities in transport systems, visit Information and Control.
Traffic England brings you live traffic information for motorways and A-roads in England so you can avoid delays by changing your route, altering the time you travel, or even leaving the car at home and taking the train instead.