Province of Antwerp Ready to SCALE-UP

Antwerp Province has set a mission to become the showcase “cycling province” of Belgium. The realisation of a safe, inclusive and comfortable bicycle network for functional travels across the entire Province is the spearhead of this mission, with a particular focus on  the creation and expansion of inter-connected bicycle highways.

The province invests in and constructs bicycle infrastructure across the three Arrondissements (Antwerp, Mechelen and Turnhout), covering the entire Functional Urban Area (FUA) of these municipalities. In parallel, data has been collected over many years to monitor the use, quality and safety of the existing bicycle network. These datasets are combined in a new central platform, the Cycle Barometer.

The data-driven lessons  learnt so far outline a policy framework, which is now ready to be scaled up in two complementary ways:

1.     On the one hand, a framework agreement for traffic studies has been created, which orders innovative traffic research in a larger area.

2.     On the other hand, a pilot project with smart cameras on near-accident detection (BITS-project, Interreg North Sea Region) is being finalised.

Within the SCALE-UP project, the Antwerp Province is aiming at building further on the knowledge and experience from the initial BITS-pilot.

A framework agreement for traffic studies

The framework agreement has been launched for different types of traffic studies for policy makers and traffic planners in the area and beyond.

Why?

➸ It is an easy-to-choose-from framework for traffic research open to all governmental bodies

The province invested a substantial effort to find and negotiate suppliers of innovative traffic research, to focus on qualitative products. By geographically extending this framework agreement, the framework contract offers other governments and public services to benefit from it and encourages them in their data-driven mobility journey.

➸ To monitor data quality

Only providers that can guarantee a certain data quality were selected, to ensure a high standard of the datasets obtained and a responsible and transparent data processing protocol with shared ownership over the raw data but also the insights obtained from it.

➸ The dynamic use of data

Data formats in which data is delivered are thoroughly evaluated depending on their potential to be dynamically integrated in other systems and services as well as the use of data standards. This allows for a more harmonised approach and direct comparability between different geographical and socio-economic areas and across municipality borders in the entire Province or even Europe-wide.

What?

The framework agreement includes permanent and/or temporary counting systems for cyclists or other traffic, traffic research on all traffic modes focused on crossroads, conflict analyses, origin-destination research, research on traffic jams, speed and travel times, systems to actively sensitise and/or warn road-users to achieve more traffic safety (such as LED signs and road strips, smileys, blinking lights, triggered by sensors).

Copyright: Antwerp Province

What?

The framework agreement includes permanent and/or temporary counting systems for cyclists or other traffic, traffic research on all traffic modes focused on crossroads, conflict analyses, origin-destination research, research on traffic jams, speed and travel times, systems to actively sensitise and/or warn road-users to achieve more traffic safety (such as LED signs and road strips, smileys, blinking lights, triggered by sensors).

All details on the framework contract can be found on this website.

Technology for the detection of near accidents

One of the technologies offered in the framework agreement is the detection of near accidents (conflict analysis). The province of Antwerp had the opportunity to pilot this technology in the European project BITS (Interreg North Sea Region). The BITS project aimed at reducing CO2 and increasing the use of bicycles through an improved implementation of smart solutions in cycling policy, research and business.

During this pilot, a dangerous and complex crossroad was monitored by smart 3D cameras. It was monitored with the smart camera in 2019, after which some changes were implemented on the crossroad based on the results and additional multilateral discussions in 2020 and finally it was measured again after the implementations in 2021. This resulted in objective and synthesised data, in tables, graphs, statistics and plot overlays on the crossroad map as well as a comparative analysis of the before and after situation.

For SCALE-UP, this means that Antwerp Province can build on existing experience with GDPR regulations for camera technologies, taking into account the growth potential and possibilities of these technologies as well as the actual effects of intervening on the overall safety of a crossroad based on such analyses.

Copyright: Antwerp Province

Within the SCALE-UP project, the Province aims at building further on the knowledge and experience from this BITS-pilot. The smart camera technology can be implemented in the Urban Node on a larger scale and engage/compare different companies on the market.

The cycle highway network in the Antwerp Province will be assessed to identify a number of potential risk locations or bottlenecks. One or several types of camera technology will be deployed on a selected number of these bottlenecks. The ambition of this exercise is to use the results of these studies and make smart data-driven decisions the standard, which can lead to more safety on bicycle networks in the FUA.

Author: Kim Verbeeck (Antwerp Province)