Springvale Junction, one of Australia's most complex intersections receives an ATC VC6 major makeover
Springvale Junction, a 6-way intersection of Princes Highway, Springvale Road, Police Road and Centre Road in the Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave, Victoria is one of Australia’s most complex intersections, and the worst accident black spot in Victoria.
With six approach roads, there are 29 possible turning movements for drivers. The majority of crashes are due to drivers failing to give way to oncoming traffic when turning right.
After a long planning process to mitigate possible installation issues, work was carried out on Sunday 30th April 2017 to install a new signal controller, replacing a vintage controller manufactured in the 1980s.
The new ATSC4 controller is designed and manufactured by Aldridge Traffic Controllers (ATC) in Sydney and represents the very latest in Traffic Signal Controller Technology. ATC is currently the only controller manufacturer with RMS approval for its VC6 SCATS Protocol implementation. The controller is capable of expansion to cater for more traffic movements resulting from any intersection upgrades.
To facilitate the installation of the site, a new deeper dual door cabinet was supplied to handle the large amount of onsite cabling from the 24 signal groups (expandable to 32 signal groups) and 24 inductive loops. This aids the installers as the cables are routed to a dedicated panel with more room to terminate to the terminals that are physically higher within the cabinet.
The ATSC4 was selected as it now allows VicRoads to split signal groups and add more detectors due to the expanded capability a VC6 enabled controller has – up to 56 detector inputs. This means greater flexibility in the personality design resulting in “fine-grain” control of the phase movements and demands the site can handle.
Along with this installation, ATC also provided an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) which will maintain Signal Operation for several hours in the event of a power failure. The UPS has a system of Automated Transfer Load switching in the event of failure and support for a portable generator with line qualified if required to extend the operational time of the batteries.
The UPS also provides alarms including one set at 3 hours on battery that is reported to SCATS via the ATSC4 Controller. This alarm (aside from mains AC failure) alerts Control Centre staff to send a request to maintenance crews to attach a portable generator in the event of an extend supply authority mains blackout.
The complete site changeover took about 13 Hours.
This installation will add a higher level of safety to this intersection by mitigating against power failures and it will allow VicRoads to better manage traffic flow by remotely adjusting the timing of the traffic signals to respond to congestion or accidents when required.
If you want more information on the ATSC4 Traffic Signal Controller or SCATS® VC6 software, please don’t hesitate to contact ATC at info@atsc4.com.au.
If you want more information on the BRAUMS Traffic Signal Lantern and Hardware, please don't hesitate to contact BRAUMS at info@braums.com.au.