Transport Management Centre
A new addition to Pietermaritzburg
The establishment of the Transport Management Centre (TMC) is imperative for the effective management of traffic on the freeways and auxiliary arterial road network for safe and efficient travel along Cape Town roads.
Through the close collaboration of multiple governmental agencies, including the City of Cape Town, the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, and SANRAL, it is envisaged that traffic related incidents and events will be managed in a professional, integrated and efficient way.
The aim of the TMC is to manage traffic congestion on Cape Town’s roads, improve road safety and incident response, plus offer live traffic updates informing motorists and public transport services about road related events. Through their comprehensive function, the centre will serve as an information hub for the public and private road users, various law enforcement agencies traffic services and emergency management services.
The City of Cape Town (COCT) appointed the ASTII consortium to design and supervise the construction of the TMC facility. The consortium, which comprise Aurecon and ITS Engineers with Techso as sub consultant was selected due to their vast experience with the freeway management systems in Cape Town , Gauteng, Durban and the Network Management Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg. ASTII appointed JLB Architects and MLC Quantity Surveyors as sub consultants to the professional team for the Cape Town TMC project.
Seeking to better manage the highway infrastructure, the City of Cape Town commissioned the development of a single facility where the overall transport system could be managed in an integrated manner.
The TMC will be responsible for receiving all the inputs from the different sensors deployed via a communication backbone, CCTV feeds, Call Centres and others, to process them and provide the required output. TMC’s role is to execute an overall co-ordination function due to the large amount of role players and existing centres.
Under One Roof
The new TMC in Goodwood (Cape Town) is part of the 2010 Soccer World Cup fast-tracked projects, which led to the challenge of time constraints faced by the project team, as they accelerate the entire project to ensure completion by May 2010. Once completed, the complex will house various traffic management agencies under one roof and for the first time holistic control can be exercised and traffic can be monitored for the wider Cape Town metropole.
The COCT set up this facility to include daily operational management and incident management of all modes of transport and all roads of the city. This operation will necessitate the presence of the SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency) and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, as both these entities along with the COCT were instrumental in implementation of the new Freeway Management System.
The COCT desired to collate all the existing internal functions involved with transport management, including the Integrated Rapid Transport (IRT) services. Additionally, the Provincial Traffic Departments currently involved with traffic management will also have a presence in the new centre.
In this regard the TMC provides the perfect platform from where the COCT can ensure that patrons of the transport network receive the best service during normal daily operations, during incidents as well as being the place where these patrons can receive accurate transport information while such incidents are managed effectively.
Technological Investment
A significant portion of the R150million (US $20million) building contract went to the advanced technology requirements that a building of this nature requires.
“The technology required a lot of time and effort in order to create a ‘plug and play’ environment for the user departments to take up space in the new centre and to be online and operational within a short period of time,” says Bismarck Oosthuizen of Aurecon.
It will be home to the City of Cape Town’s CCTV surveillance systems, which will monitor the road network and public spaces, and enable operators to spot incidents, dispatch response personnel and verify call-in information to avoid false alarms. With footage from the CCTV cameras, operators will be able to gauge the extent of traffic incidents and will then dispatch the appropriate response units where necessary.
Additionally, the centre will house the Freeway Management System, which will have approximately 200 CCTV cameras on the N1, N2 and R300 -freeways. Together with the existing CCTV cameras currently utilised by Metro Police and new ones set for installation along with the implementation of the Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) bus service, the total number of cameras monitored in the TMC will be in excess of 600, ensuring that very little escapes their view.
Greening the Building
At approximately 7000m2, the three-storey building with single storey annex has a number of cost-effective and energy-efficient applications weaved into its design. For example, the building’s orientation, including the use of UV glass and sun screens / louvers, limits the amount of sunlight into the building, thus controlling heat gain.
Additionally, heat emission from use of the air-conditioning system is redirected to supplement the geysers. A sophisticated BMS (Building Management System) optimises the centre’s overall use of energy, through means such as having motion-detection light controls, which only activate when a person is present.
The staff’s wellbeing of this 24-hour operation has been addressed in the form of internal break-away areas and the outside lawn area for relaxation. These landscaped areas help to soften the building’s imprint within the area, while creating a pleasant outdoor experience for staff.
Positive Spinoffs
The greatest benefit of the building is its ability to bring under one roof, not only different departments in the city, but also involving the Provincial Government and the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) in the overall traffic management of the roads.
Christoff Krogscheepers of ITS Engineers says, “There are very few cities in the world where, not only the different departments in the city involved with transport management are housed in one building, but also where different spheres of government will be working together in one building.
This building will bring together all spheres of government involved with freeway management and operations of freeways, the city departments involved with arterial and traffic signal management, safety and security surveillance in the city, Traffic Policing and Safety, public transport [IRT] operations and passengers information services. This is a unique achievement and all spheres of government should be commended.”
PROJECT TEAM
Client: City of Cape Town
Project & Construction Management, including OHS: Aurecon (Pty) Ltd
User Requirements and Specifications, Integration, Relocation and Occupation, Concept of Operation: ITS Engineering (Pty) Ltd /
Techso (Pty) Ltd
Main Contractor (joint venture): WBHO Construction / Peter Harley Construction
Architect: JLB Lombaard Daniels Ngalimane cc
Quantity Surveyor: MLC Quantity Surveyors
Structural, Civil & Mechanical Engineers: Aurecon (Pty) Ltd
Electrical and Electronic Engineering: Techso (Pty) Ltd
Traffic Engineering: ITS Engineering (Pty) Ltd
Town Planning: Pierre Smit and Associates, Town Planning and Development Facilitation
Heritage Impact Statement: Heritagematters
