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Intelligent compact truck parking

Modern parking management on German Federal Motorways

The high density of commercial freight traffic on national motorways makes it difficult for truck drivers to comply with the resting periods stipulated by the European Union - particularly at night. Despite the building of extended capacity to cope with the volume, this leads to over-occupancy and vehicles being parked dangerously in the entrance and exit areas of service stations. In addition to long-term expansion, intelligent controlled systems can be used in the short and mid-term to achieve a better distribution of demand on stretches of motorway and increase the capacity of individual service areas.

The innovative “intelligent compact parking” procedure (referred to as compact parking in the following) has been developed in an BASt project. Compact parking can be implemented in a large number of existing service areas in a short space of time. It permits a clear increase in capacity without necessitating any further conventional expansion measures because additional parking spaces are created by redesignating the traffic lane between parallel parking lanes.

User guidance by variable message signs

With compact parking, several trucks park compactly behind and next to each other without a middle traffic lane. To avoid the vehicles blocking each other on departure, they are sorted according to their intended departure times. A unique characteristic of compact parking is the use of dynamic displays over the parking lanes. They show the arriving truck drivers the latest departure time of the vehicles which are already parked in a lane (see Image 1).

It is not necessary for the drivers to specify their actual departure time in a system, however. Instead, the calculation for the dynamic displays, i.e. the departure times per lane, is based on an innovative and completely new control procedure.

The system makes use of a pattern of demand from the truck drivers which is based on the resting periods prescribed by law. Typical departure times are therefore offered in free parking lanes. During regular operation the control system offers the departure times in demand (i.e. parking lanes have been completely occupied) for as long as possible by updating the dynamic displays. Other departure times are no longer offered depending on demand.

Compact parking permits a broad range of departure times to be offered for a completely empty parking area. As the parking area fills, this offer is reduced to those departure times which are in the greatest demand. The departure times are therefore assigned to the parking lane displays dynamically and depending on demand. As a result, the vehicles with the same departure time park behind each other or behind the vehicles wishing to leave the service area earlier than they do.

Flexible periods of stay

The picture shows an illustration how the time and occupancy-dependent calculation works Image 2: Time and occupancy-dependent calculation of the VMS

Image 2 illustrates how compact parking works for a section of the parking area with four parking lanes. The period of stay is always converted in relationship to the current time and shown on the dynamic displays in the form of departure times. In Image 2, the departure times of 6:00 and 7:30 are offered (corresponding to a period of stay of 10 to 11.5 hours) based on the expected demand. A time update is programmed for every 15 minutes and leads to the altered dynamic displays in Image 2 for the time of 20:15.

Once a lane is full, as shown for 20:21, the corresponding departure time of 07:15 is transferred to the still free lane 7 and continues to be available to the road users.

The special technical execution with modern tubular steel overhead gantries and easy-to-understand displays are characteristic of the system and recognisable for users. The use of detection technology is necessary for the intelligent control of the dynamic displays. A measurement of the remaining length of the lane is intended for this purpose. The detection equipment can be fitted to the tubular steel gantries so that there is no need to interfere with the paved surface.

Arriving drivers should park in the lane for which their own planned departure time is displayed. It can therefore be assumed that the departure time offered also corresponds to the actual departure time of the user and that vehicles are queued according to their departure times. The control procedure is intended to give users the impression of a supportive, user-oriented instrument and deliberately leaves the choice of parking lane to the truck drivers. The responsibility for selecting a suitable parking lane is not assumed by the control computer but by the users themselves. The control system merely calculates an offer based on demand and distributes the departure times over all parking lanes. The entire compact parking process is based on the interaction between users and the supportive control system.

The picture shows an illustration of a lorry driver

To the film: How does compact parking work?

Compact parking pilot installation

The compact parking pilot project was realised on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure together with the Bavarian Road Administration and the Federal Highway Research Institute at the Jura-West motorway service area on the A3 in the direction of Regensburg. It was put into operation at the start of 2016 (Image 3).

The picture shows the Jura-West motorway service area Image 3: Compact parking at Jura-West motorway service area

By redesignating the separating islands, it was initially possible to increase the number of truck (coach) parking bays from 66 to 70. By additionally remarking the former middle traffic lane, a total of 35 parking lanes each around 70 metres long could be set up for compact parking. The width of the parking lanes is identical to that of conventional diagonal parking bays and at least three trucks can be parked behind one another in one lane. Assuming three trucks in one parking lane, 105 parking spaces can be produced arithmetically, for example.

Compact parking is currently being tested in practice. It is intended to show whether this system or similar telematic applications are suitable in future to supplement the conventional expansion or new build of parking capacity.

Information via the internet

Users are given suitable assistance via internet-based media. In order to provide the highest possible transparency for users, current occupancy plans alongside general information and instructions are provided in an internet portal: http://www.kompaktparken.de/en/, permitting users to check out the availability of parking space in advance.