Real-time PTV model upgrades manage­ment of 9,000 km of roads

Hungarian Public Roads (Magyar Közút), one of the largest state enterprises in Hungary, operates and maintains nearly 31,000 km of the country's national public road network .

One of the significant challenges it faced was the need for consistent, error-free real-time data about current and near future traffic situations. This data would enable its operators to have an overview of the traffic situation, predict incidents, and react accordingly.

Therefore, Hungarian Public Roads opted for PTV Optima, the real-time traffic management software. It chose this software for its advanced capabilities, including traffic forecasting, decision support for traffic management, and KPI calculations.

A major consideration during the implementation process was ensuring error-free and reliable data for PTV Optima. To address this, Főmterv, an engineering consultancy working for Hungarian Public Roads, updated an existing model using historical data from Inrix in PTV Visum software. This model was then transformed into a dynamic simulation traffic forecast model for PTV Optima. The model covers around 9,000 kilometers of high-level road network.

PTV Group also developed customized APIs, allowing Hungarian Public Roads to use their own real-time data. This was supplemented by real-time speed data from Inrix. The combination of these real-time data sources with the base traffic model ensures highly accurate traffic forecast calculations.

Hungarian Public Roads now receives real-time information about incidents throughout its entire road network. Furthermore, it uses PTV Optima to effectively test traffic management strategies, ensuring the implementation of the most suitable measures. By utilizing real-time data from multiple sources, PTV Optima enables the company to compare the reliability of different strategies.