Left: Hamburg’s
narrow streets make
it a hot spot for
congestion
€12.4m
The investment the German
Ministry of Transport has
made into Hamburg’s
thermal imaging project
All the congestion and
jams on German roads
present a stumbling block
for the national government,
which has adopted the EU’s
Clean Air initiative. The program
lays out stringent guidelines for
how the government should try
to improve air quality in German
cities over the next decade. In
particular, it considers how to
reduce the concentration of
atmospheric pollutants, which
are exacerbated by high levels
of congestion. Meanwhile,
German courts have started
to impose driving bans on
several German cities and their
municipalities are looking
for ways to fulfil the
European targets.
Hamburg, with its
population of 1.8 million, heavy
| Traffic Management
The government want to reduce
levels of carbon dioxide across
Germany and they see digitalization
and ITS as a great way of getting traffic
to flow better, which will improve the
quality of the air
Stefan Hollesch, portfolio manager, Hamburg Traffic Systems
quadrupled to 723,000 by 2017. The
ADAC partly explains the rises by
pointing to increases in both roads
under construction and the number
of vehicles.
The heat is on
Congestion is undoubtedly an
inconvenience and a drain on the
economy. However, perhaps an even
more compelling reason to reduce it
is the fact that less standing traffic
means less pollution (see Cash for the
climate box). Given the multiple
imperatives, Hamburg’s decision to
monitor intersections closely using
cameras is hardly surprising. But the
decision to use so many thermal
cameras is still unusual and has
never been done on such a scale
concentration of industry,
and busy roads, knows it has
to act fast. This is the real
backdrop to the plan to install
2,000 thermal cameras, which
received the enthusiastic
backing of the German Ministry
of Transport, which contributed
€12.4 million – about half the
budget – to pay for the cameras
from its Clean Air program.
“They want to reduce levels of
carbon dioxide across Germany
and they see digitalization and
ITS as a great way of getting
traffic to flow better, which
will improve the quality of air.
We’d like Hamburg’s ideas to
become a model for other cities
in Germany to follow,”
says Hollesch.
Evidence from other parts of
the world supports the German
Ministry of Transport’s belief
that reducing congestion on
the roads helps to improve
air quality quite significantly.
The US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
estimated last year that “long
duration idling” consumed
more than one billion gallons
of extra fuel annually, at a
cost of over US$5 billion. The
EPA said congestion created
“frustration”, but also resulted
in “more emissions, more
pollution and increased health
risks”. The UK’s national
Automobile Association
calculated that cutting queuing
time by just one minute per day
on three major roads leading
into a city could save more
CO2 than switching off
2,000 streetlights
Cash for the climate
Central government funding for Hamburg’s traffic management scheme
was secured thanks to the project promising to deliver lower emissions
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November/December 2019 Traffic Technology International
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