Dunedin (27 November 2019) – The Dunedin City Council is installing a system for monitoring travel times to help with transport planning and understanding traffic flow on Dunedin roads.

The system will also provide origin and destination data to help identify where people are travelling to and from and which routes they use.

The DCC Transport Engineering and Road Safety Team Leader Hjarne Poulsen says, “Some big projects are coming up in Dunedin which are likely to change traffic patterns, such as the George Street and tertiary upgrades and new hospital. This system will give us better ‘before’ data to analyse the impact of these projects so we can adjust our roading if needed.”

The DCC’s previous system was to drive set routes at different times to record the travel time. The new system works by detecting Bluetooth in car devices and tracking them from one location to another. The detections are anonymous and there is no way to identify people or vehicles.

The system utilises a network of 44 solar-powered sensors installed on roadside poles. The sensors will be installed around Dunedin over the next month and the system will be live by Christmas.

The system was developed in Adelaide and is also used in several cities in Australia and New Zealand.

The total cost of the system is $150,000, spread over three years.

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