An innovative system for managing road congestion without major investments
It is often said that the smartest technology is the simplest. And there’s nothing much simpler and straightforward than the concept of the Road Zipper System, a mechanism that allows lane barriers to be reconfigured in real-time – whilst maintaining a barrier for protection between opposite flows of traffic – as necessary to cost-effectively increase traffic capacity and reduce congestion.
The system is based on the use of a special vehicle that reconfigures the layout of lane barriers on roads, tunnels and bridges by moving the dividing blocks via an automatized system-on-a-truck “just like a zipper” to alleviate congestion caused by accidents, construction work, emergency evacuations or traffic.
The Road Zipper System, which allows congestion issues to be rapidly addressed, reducing the time necessary to reconfigure road barriers, is also ideal for real-time lane management purposes. Moreover, it requires far less manpower to reconfigure than traditional road barrier systems and is environmentally friendly, reducing road congestion and petrol consumption.
The Road Zipper System, which has been developed by Lindsay Transportation Systems, can be installed in less than one year and at a fraction of the cost of new construction work. It is currently employed on road and bridge segments in Australia, Italy, New Zealand and the United States, including on the Auckland Harbour Bridge in New Zealand and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, where the system only takes thirty minutes to be fully reconfigured.