Six to seven new flyovers would be built in Sofia, deputy mayor in charge of transport Velizar Stoilov said on June 26. The announcement came after Martijn Elgersma, charge d'affaires at the Dutch embassy in Bulgaria, handed over the comprehensive report of the first phase of a feasibility study aimed at solving the city’s major traffic problems.
This year will see the beginning of the report’s first phase, starting with the construction of three highway crossings but tens of millions of leva will be needed to complete the whole plan, Stoilov said.
The first phase of the study – Intelligent TMS Sofia Feasibility Study, User Needs and Recommendations – was carried out by Dutch consultancies DHV and Vialis.
One of the projects, part of the overall plan to manage Sofia’s traffic, will include construction of a flyover between Bulgaria and Ivan Geshov boulevards, Stoilov said. Another project envisions building a tramline to Durvenitsa district under the intersection of Tsarigradsko Chaussee boulevard and the ring road.
The second phase of the feasibility study, prepared by the Dutch transport ministry and partner companies, would be finalised by the end of the year, and would be followed by the project implementation stage, project consultant Roeland van de Ven told The Sofia Echo.
The first phase was co-financed by the Netherlands' transport ministry, DHV and Vialis. The second part is also expected to be financed by the Dutch ministry, but an application for finance will also be filed to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, Van de Ven said.
The second phase will include the pilot implementation of traffic control equipment used in certain areas of the city and an assessment on how the equipment works during Sofia’s peak conditions will be completed.
By the end of 2008, at least 30 crossroads in Sofia woud be monitored by a specialised traffic surveillance centre, which has already been developed as part of the Dutch project. The final study phase is expected to propose modern methods for traffic jam management and intelligent streetlight management. Stoilov said that the project would enable making the right decisions for the relevant light signals at any moment regardless of traffic congestion.
The city hall was also interested in the second part of the feasibility study and offered solutions such as the development of bicycle lane networks in Sofia, he also said. Feiko van der Veen, senior consultant on traffic management at DHV, said that they would consider the study on bicycle options.
“An important feature of the study is that it is not a theoretical exercise – clients need an assessment based on a thorough study of the current situation and workshops involving all stakeholders,” Elgersma told reporters at the news conference in the city hall on June 26. He said that the proposed solutions did not entail completely new and expensive concepts, but were building on measures already undertaken by Sofia municipality.
“Current municipality investments are in the right direction towards a fully intelligent traffic management system,” the report concluded, adding that these were short-term solutions for individual systems. “However, an approach that integrates all systems is recommended for a long-term communications solution. In particular, use of available infrastructure such as underground conduits and sharing of both infrastructure and services whenever possible is highly recommended as a most cost-effective alternative,” the report said.
Synchronisation of traffic signals is now a priority, together with the installation of traffic monitoring equipment, Elgersma said. He stressed that the traffic management system of the city needs to be upgraded further.
“A priority system for public transport vehicles can and should be implemented,” Elgersma said.
Important aspects of the integrated urban traffic control system were the detection techniques, geometrical design of intersections and the co-operation of stakeholders and communication infrastructure.
According to the first phase of the Dutch survey, the traffic management needs in Sofia could be divided into four main areas: improvement of traffic engineering skills, changes in institutional aspects, implementation of new systems (hardware) and providing applications (software) to perform certain functionalities. “A mix of these four topics is basically needed in order to improve the level of traffic control in the city, and to build information services for road users,” the report said.
“The first step towards improving traffic light operations is to make the fixed time network control in the green wave areas up to date,” the study concluded. Next, because of the ever-increasing flows of traffic, it was necessary to make traffic in the green waves responsive. Also, isolated intersections should be made more efficient by installing transport detectors. The central Sofia area should become fully adaptive and give priority to public transport vehicles.
The second part of the feasibility study plans to improve functionally specify travel information services, like variable message signs and internet-based road traffic information. “These services help drivers to make optimised decisions on their travel departure time or their travel route, so avoiding travel delays or road congestion,” the report said.
