How is LACROIX City helping to alleviate congestion on a major roadway?

Providing Road Traffic Monitoring and Detecting Congestion

A popular tourist destination, the Île de Ré experiences many traffic problems when visitor numbers are high. As the entire flow of vehicles has to pass over the Île de Ré bridge, this causes a bottleneck. This situation blocks traffic and creates many traffic jams, especially in the municipality of Rivedoux-Plage, located at the foot of the bridge. A notable consequence is that the influx of tourists stops local residents from making their everyday journeys.

The Île de Ré has :

• 150,000 people in summer
• 1,200 vehicles per hour at the busiest times
• 16,000 vehicles per day in the most congested periods

To address this issue, we are supporting the Charente-Maritime Departmental Council in setting up and monitoring a three-part solution:

1/ Real-time traffic monitoring.

2/ Detecting the formation of and changes in congestion.

3/ Informing the general public via a dedicated mobile application.

The Challenges:

• Understanding the phenomena and periods of traffic congestion on the island, especially around the Île de Ré bridge.
• Reacting quickly to the difficulties detected and making the information available.
• Providing decision-making tools for road users and managers.
• Developing a traffic management plan to make it easier for users – especially local residents – to travel around.

Informing about Journey Times with Connected Devices

The aim was to be able to give all users journey times on the island. We also wanted to offer them access to real-time traffic images.

In summary, we deployed an ecosystem consisting of nine sensors, nine cameras and a SaaS-based management system. This enables multi-platform dissemination of journey times and real-time traffic videos. Users can access the information from the Destination Île de Ré website or mobile app.

Our teams sub-contracted the installation and maintenance to Citéos.

New Perspectives Thanks to Data Analysis

More than 1.2 million visits to the Respi Ré Info Traffic website have been recorded since July 2017.

The installation of this equipment has made it possible to gather a vast amount of useful data (journey times, journey time predictions). Analysing the latter could bring about new ways to develop existing infrastructure and encourage users to favour alternative modes of travel and soft mobility.