Why AFRY is a valued ITS partner
Why AFRY is a valued ITS partner
Specialists from AFRY Denmark share best practices in partnership with the Danish Road Directorate.
In Denmark, the Danish Road Directorate is the largest infrastructure owner with around 3,800 kilometers of road in addition to many of the country’s bridges and tunnels. At present, the need for more infrastructural capacity is expanding, and the use of smart, digital traffic management rise successively.
Recently, AFRY and The Danish Road Directorate signed a framework agreement, that covers planning, construction, and operation of all intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and has an estimated value of 196 million SEK. However, the partners are not strangers.
“We have been teaming up with The Danish Road Directorate since the 1990s. Hence, we have gained a unique insight into how they plan, execute, and optimize both on technology, economy, operations, and maintenance. This symbiosis works well,” says Kenneth Habo, Business Unit Manager for Transportation at AFRY.
“The key element is a proactive and critical dialogue. As a trusted advisor, we discuss traffic management’s purpose on a specific road with the directorate. What do we want to gain? – regarding technical functions, IT security, traffic capacity, road user behavior e.g. That dialogue is extremely valuable for the success of the project,” he adds.
Strong position within ITS
In the 1990s, traffic management in Denmark began with many different and single-unit systems developed by, among others, AFRY in collaboration with the Road Directorate. Today, the systems are being tied together technically, and building one smart, intelligent system is among AFRY's strongest competencies within ITS.
“The different systems are being tied together to create more free-flowing traffic which is a way to make infrastructure more sustainable. Besides getting rid of tiresome waiting time due to traffic congestion, the result is both lower CO2 emissions from the exhaust and lower fuel consumption”, says Susan Appel, Team Manager for Traffic.
AFRY’s knot-tying competences
Driving on national roads in Denmark in 2021 you are often guided by digital road signs that are part of an ITS. For instance, if an accident occurs or bad weather emerges, the intelligent traffic system will guide you. In case of an accident, the road signs warn you about potential traffic jams ahead. And if a strong wind is affecting your ride, data from weather stations communicate with the ITS and gives you a warning on the digital road signs. The underlying data network is being developed by AFRY.
“Our skills are broad: We collect and integrate data from different systems – traffic lights, weather stations e.g. – and our specialists combine the different technical solutions. Moreover, we contribute with education and guidelines to the persons using the system every day. This “package” of special skills gives AFRY in Denmark a strong position within traffic management and ITS,” Per Rønn Olesen, Team Manager for ITS at AFRY, supplements.
Want to know more about the framework agreement between AFRY and The Danish Road Directorate or the collaboration’s best practices? Please contact:
