Husam Musharbash, Traffic Tech Group, talks about tunnel management system implementation on the new route between Doha and the soon-to-open New Doha International Airport
The new Ras Abu Aboud Tunnel in Qatar, which opened to traffic in January of this year, will serve the New Doha International Airport once the latter opens in 2011.The new airport, which is being built to the east of the existing Doha International Airport, will cover around 22km2. Initially, it will handle around 24 million passengers a year (three times as many as the existing airport) and this will grow to about 50 million on completion, making it the second-largest capacity holder in the region after Dubai International Airport.
Around half of the New Doha International Airport will be built on reclaimed land. This has necessitated a whole new road layout and has effectively allowed designers the rare opportunity of a truly clean sheet of paper when it comes to design and systems selection, says Husam Musharbash, CEO of
Multi-million dollar expansion
"The Ras Abu Aboud Tunnel is a part of the last stage of the Ras Abu Aboud road project, a US$200 million road network expansion that will link the country's capital with its new airport."Despite its name, the tunnel is in fact a long - 350 metre - underpass but it will see the first use in Qatar of quite a number of ITS technologies, such as Variable Message Signs [VMS], lane indicators, speed indicator signs and an Automated Incident Detection (AID) system and cameras. Although Qatar already has a very good level of technology deployed in urban areas, away from the main population areas technology use still tends to be rather more limited.
"That said, by comparison with some other countries in the region the general standard of driving is good," Musharbash continues. "Speeding has historically been a problem but Qatar now has a very well-developed, radar-equipped enforcement system and a penalty structure that is weighty enough to make non-compliance a severe impact on the wallet or purse despite the country having one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world; for instance, a first-time speeding ticket incurs a penalty of 3,000 riyals [$800]."
Although there are plans for a 12km undersea link between both sides of Doha Bay, Qatar is essentially a flat country. There are no tunnels. The Ras Abu Aboud Tunnel, therefore, is something of a first.
The control solution selected for the tunnel is
"We looked at several solutions but topXview was chosen for its ability to seamlessly integrate all the elements necessary for a state-of-the-art tunnel management system. As well as the traffic management and AID aspects, that also encompasses ventilation and smoke/environmental detection systems," says Musharbash (see Sidebar, 'Ras Abu Aboud Tunnel systems').
"These are all integrated onto a GUI [Graphical User Interface] which operators use to verify condition alerts and then select from preset scenarios. This removes subjectivity and the need for improvisation."
The resultant solution can respond very swiftly, according to Musharbash: "Incidents can be detected within two seconds and scenarios can be enacted within five to 10 seconds. Gantry-mounted VMS located along the 1km approach to the tunnel entrance are supported by others at ground level and can be used to convey information to road users. Three complementing systems guard against fire; there are both smoke and heat detectors in the tunnel ceiling, and the AID cameras also have a fire detection capability. In any such emergency the ventilation systems act automatically, warnings are generated and the tunnel's operators are taken into a scenario-led response.
"Scenario generation and getting the correct VMS management strategies leant heavily on Telegra's specialist knowledge."
Capacity delivery
A number of factors contributed to the choice of Telegra as a partner beyond its topXview system, according to Musharbash. The Croatian company has gained extensive knowledge of tunnel management in its home country, where it dominates the market. Another consideration was the need to fast-track the project in Qatar: "We went and looked at some of Telegra's existing projects in Croatia and Turkey to get some idea of their capabilities, especially production capacity and project implementation support, because this project had to be completed from design to full implementation in just five months. [See 'Project gestation'.] Project gestation
The NDIA Steering Committee looked to implement a state-of-the-art tunnel management system that meets global safety standards, in the road expansion project that will link Qatar's capital to the soon-to-open New Doha International Airport. Cansult Maunsell provided professional advice on design issues and during the project conceptualisation phase the Midmac-Yuksel joint venture empowered Traffic Tech (Gulf) to propose an integrated TMS solution.
Traffic Tech (Gulf) executed the whole project in a span of five months, from design to installation and commissioning, coordinating with Telegra and other component suppliers.
"We started talking about a tunnel management system in December 2008 and gave over 20 presentations locally," says Musharbash. "In the end, a letter of award was received in August 2009 and the tunnel opened on 10 January this year.""Telegra not only produces the software but was also able to manufacture a significant proportion of the hardware. Tunnel management is Telegra's bread and butter, few other companies are so specialised, and it supplied all of the VMS, the variable speed limit signs and the lane indicators, as well as the roadside controllers, AID system and emergency telephones.
"To meet the necessary deadlines involved a round-the-clock production effort and a major logistical undertaking; equipment manufacture took place within a four-week time window and some 20 tonnes of equipment was shipped to site by air. The CCTV cameras, the smoke and heat detectors and other environmental systems came from other manufacturers. Integration, including - at the last minute - LED lane lights from
State of the art
The result, Musharbash states, is a tunnel management system which is state of the art."In fact," he adds, "the same system would serve a larger tunnel very well."
Alongside the continued testing and refinement of incident response scenarios, some of which takes place in the tunnel's running lanes at night, a major next step is the production of an educational brochure for local drivers.
"First feedback from the client side and the local media has been excellent. The next step is going to be a relatively large public education campaign. The use of lane indicators and VMS is new locally, and there is the issue of language to consider: VMS messages are posted in both Arabic and English, and while English speakers are perhaps more used to the use of certain abbreviations the same is not necessarily true for those who speak Arabic. Finding the best way to abbreviate messages is therefore a priority and the use of pictograms is a possibility."
Ras Abu Aboud Tunnel systems
The Ras Abu Aboud Tunnel features a comprehensive traffic and environmental management system, all controlled by Tegera's topXview SCADA system. Elements include:
• Four gantry-mounted and two ground-mounted full-matrix VMS;
• Three ground-mounted LED signs for warning over-height vehicles;
• Three over-height vehicle detection systems;
• Four PTZ dome cameras;
• Four AID cameras;
• Two fixed cameras;
• Four emergency telephone points;
• 14 lane indicator signs (capable of displaying an 'X' or arrows);
• 16 variable speed limit signs;
• 2 radar detector-equipped variable speed limit signs (which flash if an approaching vehicle is being driven at above the set speed limit);
• Two pictogram-capable RGB signs;
• 50 LED LaneLight in-pavement markers;
• Nine LED inner illumination signs;
• Three roadside controllers;
• A complete Gigabit IP network over fibre optics;
• A complete control room equipped with servers, workstations, LCD screens and RAID storage for video recording; and
• Tunnel infrastructure subsystems including fire alarm system fire-fighting equipment, ventilation system with pollution control, flood control submersible pump system, and tunnel lighting with an optical sensor system.
