No downtime allowed: how MATIS’ partners upgrade roads without stopping traffic

Across MATIS’ network, hundreds of ITS and C-ITS upgrades have been deployed on motorways carrying thousands of vehicles a day without a single lane closure for the works themselves. Three partners illustrate how.

AUCAT: sequencing the works so the road never stops

The C-32 (Pau Casals) motorway runs 47 km along the Catalan coast near Barcelona: 16 tunnels, more than 26,000 vehicles per day, and one of the busiest sections of the Spanish TEN-T network. To modernise its ageing ITS and safety systems, AUCAT ruled out stopping traffic from the very start.A comprehensive suite of over 100 ITS elements featuring diverse technologies, including new variable message signs, optical height detectors to stop oversized lorries before tunnel portals, and upgraded fibre optics to replace slow mobile links—was rolled out through tight, precise sequencing. Every new lane-control system was fully integrated into HORUS, the tunnel management platform, and brought into service before the next intervention began. Technologies were chosen specifically for their seamless compatibility with active infrastructure, ensuring that upgrading never meant taking existing safety networks offline, even briefly.

ABVVP: layering a new system onto an operational network

On the Italian A4 motorway, specifically the section between Brescia and Padova, Autostrada Brescia Verona Vicenza Padova (ABVVP) faced a particular challenge. Years of ITS and C-ITS deployment —including roadside shelters, RSU antennas, and toll station buildings—had highlighted the need for a centralized system for remote power supply monitoring; consequently, faults were often detected only after the fact.

Rather than replacing the existing infrastructure, ABVVP integrated it, one layer at a time. The new SCADA system was connected gradually: first the roadside shelter interfaces, then those in the toll station buildings, followed by the technical cabinets, and finally the fire detection sensors within the Berici tunnels near Vicenza. Each level was made operational and configured before the next was added, ensuring no service interruption for equipment already in operation.

DIRIF: matching the fix to what each generation of equipment can take

The Sirius Traffic Management System, operated by DIRIF (French Ministry of Transport’s road directorate for Île-de-France), connects roughly 400 variable message signs, 500 cameras and 800 counting loops across some 1,000 km of national roads in Île-de-France. Securing it against cyber threats had to happen without ever taking it offline.

DIRIF split the work into three simultaneous layers. At the software level, encrypted exchanges with certificates replaced unprotected communications. At the network level, switches and routers were upgraded to cyber-secure devices with integrated firewalls. The most delicate layer was the field equipment itself: hundreds of VMS, cameras and counting stations already in daily use, of mixed generations. Rather than a blanket replacement, each device was treated on its own terms: a firmware update where the equipment was recent enough to support it, a card or module added for intermediate models, and full replacement reserved for the oldest units where nothing less would secure them. That generation-by-generation logic is what let DIRIF encrypt exchanges across the whole network without pulling any single sign, camera or loop out of service.

 

How to Tackle Adverse Weather Visibility on European Roads?

Adverse weather is a recurring cause of accidents on European motorways, and the risk varies sharply with terrain and climate. Two MATIS partners, working in contrasting geographical contexts, have each deployed a system suited to their local conditions

APCAP – Scutvias: anticipating the risk before it reaches the driver

On the A23 motorway in Portugal, around the Gardunha Tunnel, our partner APCAP – Scutvias addressed this by integrating new weather stations, installed at strategic high-altitude points and equipped with multiple sensors, into the existing C-ITS infrastructure. Data is collected continuously and transmitted via a secure telecom network to the Traffic Control Centre (TCC). When readings exceed predefined safety thresholds, the system triggers alerts that feed directly into traffic management actions: dynamic speed limit adjustments, warnings on Variable Message Signs (VMS), and real-time hazard information sent to connected vehicles via V2I communication.

What makes the deployment distinctive is how tightly weather data collection and traffic management are integrated. Rather than alerting operators only once conditions have already deteriorated, the system turns sensor readings straight into operational decisions, reaching the control room and drivers at the same time, with enough warning to adapt. The benefits follow directly from that speed: weather-related accidents become less frequent, traffic flows more smoothly with fewer bottlenecks and fuel use and emissions fall.

 

Autovia Padana – SINA: guiding drivers through foggy landscape

The challenge on the A21 Piacenza–Cremona–Brescia motorway is shaped by a very different geography. The Po Valley is one of Europe’s foggiest regions, and the 12.9 km section between the Fiorenzuola junction and Cremona station regularly sees visibility drop to near zero. Our partners Autovia Padana and SINA responded by replacing passive orange reflectors with active LED signs: yellow/amber edge delineators installed every 25 metres along the traffic divider, in both directions, managed centrally by the TCC.

The logic behind the choice is simple: passive reflectors only work when a vehicle’s headlights hit them, exactly the condition fog removes. The active LED system creates a continuous luminous guide along the motorway route that holds regardless of ambient visibility, helping drivers maintain a safe trajectory through conditions where standard road markings effectively disappear. That continuity shows up directly in the results: secondary accidents become fewer and less severe, congestion and travel-time losses fall, and fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions drop with them.

From Seville to Brussels: MATIS 2 takes European C-ITS cooperation a step further

On 29 September 2026, during the Connecting Europe Days 2026 in Brussels, MATIS 2, C-Roads and VERKKO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that opens a new chapter in their cooperation and reaffirms a shared ambition: accelerating the deployment of harmonised and interoperable Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) services across Europe.

C-Roads is the platform through which European Member States and road operators harmonise C-ITS services across borders. MATIS 2 was also present on the C-Roads stand during the event, highlighting the close links between European deployment projects and harmonisation activities.

Building on the cooperation launched in 2025

This new agreement is part of a broader cooperation dynamic initiated with MATIS. At the ITS European Congress in Seville in May 2025, MATIS 1 signed a first MoU with X4ITS, MERIDIAN, SCALE and C-Roads, strengthening ties between major European corridor initiatives and supporting a common approach to C-ITS deployment. One year later, MATIS 2 is carrying this momentum forward. The MoU with C-Roads and VERKKO builds on this foundation while adapting the framework to the next generation of European C-ITS deployment activities.

The objective remains clear: connect what happens on the road with what is developed at European level.

From cooperation to concrete action

The MoU is designed to turn cooperation into practical exchanges between deployment projects and European harmonisation activities. MATIS 2 and VERKKO will rely on C-Roads specifications for their C-ITS deployments, while lessons learned from these deployments will feed into the continuous development of those specifications. The partnership may also cover cross-testing and validation, evaluation methodologies, exchanges on deployment use cases and the development of a common C-ITS Deployment Strategy supporting the long-term operation of C-ITS services in Europe. By strengthening the bridge between harmonisation and real-world deployment, the three partners aim to avoid duplication, share experience and help ensure that C-ITS services work seamlessly across projects, networks and borders.

One shared direction for European

C-ITS From Seville to Brussels, the direction is consistent: closer alignment between European C-ITS initiatives and stronger interoperability. With this agreement, MATIS 2, C-Roads and VERKKO confirm their commitment to working together towards a more connected European road network**, in support of** Europe’s ambitions for safer, more sustainable and more efficient mobility.

Beyond Deployment: How C-Roads and MATIS Are Proving the Real Value of ITS

On 8 September, a cross-corridor workshop on (C-)ITS projects’ evaluations, led by C-Roads Platform WG3 leader Luca Studer and with the participation of Bernard Fer representing MATIS, deepened this shared methodology and best practices across corridors. At the centre of that work: as Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) become increasingly present on European roads, a key question remains : how can we accurately measure their real benefits?

A shared methodology to better demonstrate the value of Intelligent Transport Systems

As Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) become increasingly present on European roads, a key question remains: how can we accurately measure their real benefits? To answer this challenge, C-Roads Working Group 3 (WG3) developed the new ITS Evaluation and Assessment Plan, providing a common framework to support project managers, operators and public authorities in assessing ITS deployments in a consistent and transparent way.
The work was built on years of European experience, drawing lessons from previous initiatives such as the European ITS Platform (EU EIP) and earlier ITS deployment projects. Existing evaluation methods and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were reviewed and consolidated to create a framework adapted to current and future ITS applications.

From technology deployment to measurable impacts

One of the main principles of the Guidelines is to focus as much as possible on real-world evidence. Rather than relying only on theoretical assumptions, evaluations should , whenever possible, use field data collected ; evaluations should use field data collected before and after deployment, (if observations periods before and after deployment are long enough) to measure actual changes and better understand the contribution of ITS solutions.
The methodology also encourages a broader view of impacts. ITS benefits are not limited to a single indicator: improvements in traffic management can influence journey times, congestion, safety and environmental performance. Understanding these links helps provide a more complete picture of the value created by ITS.

MATIS contribution as one of its main cross-corridor activities

The MATIS project played a significant role in enriching this evaluation approach by presenting the evaluation methods already developed in MedTIS and ArcAtlantic, and by highlighting their main results. These methods are based on leveraging improvements in response times (event detection and alert times) after project deployment to assess progress in terms of safety, congestion, and the environment. The three indicators reflecting the gains achieved in terms of safety (number of victims avoided), congestion (number of hours lost, avoided), and CO2 emissions (tons of CO2 avoided) will constitute the basic deliverables for estimating the socio-economic gains provided by each corridor program..

A framework for the next generation of ITS projects

The new Guidelines provide a practical roadmap: define objectives, identify relevant KPIs, collect reliable data, analyse impacts and share comparable results across Europe.
By combining European experience and new operational insights from projects such as MATIS, this work contributes to a better understanding of how ITS can deliver safer, more efficient and more resilient transport systems.

From Cameras to Fog Lights: How MATIS’ Projects Keep Drivers in the Know

Whatever the risk on a motorway — an incident, a queue forming, or a sudden drop in visibility — the first line of defence is almost always the same: getting accurate information to the driver quickly enough for it to matter. Across all the MATIS’ project, this principle takes different forms depending on the corridor and the hazard involved.

SCT: connecting a whole network around Barcelona

Around Barcelona, Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT) built its project around a single question: how does a driver find out what’s happening on the road ahead quickly enough to act on it? Deployed across roughly 200 km of the busiest routes surrounding Barcelona and Baix Llobregat, the answer combines several channels feeding into one another. New Variable Message Panels deliver real-time updates directly to drivers, while advanced CCTV cameras with AI capabilities detect incidents the moment they happen — turning raw video into the trigger for the information a driver sees on the road.

The link between detection and communication is what makes this project distinctive. Rather than treating cameras and signage as separate systems, SCT routes everything through the CIVICAT Control Centre: an incident spotted by a camera can inform the message displayed on a panel further down the same route, often before the driver even reaches the affected section. Modern speed monitoring equipment adds a further layer, feeding data back into the same network while also discouraging the risky driving that so often causes incidents in the first place. The result is less a collection of separate tools than a single feedback loop — see, decide, inform — repeated continuously across the corridor.

ADF: turning footage into a number drivers can use

Where SCT took a network-wide view, Autostrada Dei Fiori (ADF) focused on a specific, well-defined stretch: 9 km of the A6 Torino-Savona motorway. Here, the starting point is the driver’s immediate need: knowing what conditions look like on the exact section they’re about to enter. The project installed 17 cameras in both directions to capture that picture in real time; many of them use artificial intelligence and algorithmic processing to calculate individual and average travel times automatically, converting raw footage into a figure a driver can use to judge their journey.

The travel time data feeds into both “in itinere” and external variable message signs positioned along the route, giving drivers a concrete answer: not just “there is an incident ahead” but “here is what your journey through this section will look like.” The underlying logic is identical as the previous project: better images, processed faster, translate into more precise information reaching the driver at the moment it’s still useful.

Autovia Padana: guiding drivers through a single hazard

The third project narrows the focus even further, addressing not a corridor’s overall traffic picture but one specific and often underestimated danger: fog. On the A21 Piacenza-Cremona-Brescia motorway, an anti-fog device has replaced traditional passive orange reflectors with active LED signs positioned every 25 metres along the central divider. Rather than relying on a vehicle’s headlights to catch a static reflector — something that fog itself can defeat — the new yellow/amber LED edge delineators create a continuous, actively lit guide along the route, managed centrally by the Traffic Control Centre.

The goal here is to reduce secondary accidents caused specifically by poor-visibility conditions, and by extension cutting the congestion, lost vehicle-hours and CO2 emissions that these secondary incidents generate. It’s a reminder that not every real-time information system needs cameras or AI to be effective — sometimes, a clearly lit path is enough to keep drivers safely on course.

Heavy Goods Vehicles Under Control: Two Answers to the Same Safety Challenge

Heavy goods vehicles are essential to European trade, but they also bring specific challenges to motorway operators: where do they rest safely, and how are the riskiest loads among them identified and managed? Two MATIS projects, one in France, one in Italy, tackle these questions.

Lugos: rethinking space instead of expanding it

On the A63 motorway between Bordeaux and the Spanish border, Atlandes faced a familiar problem at the Lugos rest area: chronic saturation caused by high volumes of cross-border HGV traffic. Rather than pursuing a costly land expansion, Atlandes redesigned the existing space using a compact “column parking” concept, arranging trucks in groups of four. The result is a jump in capacity from 72 to 128 spaces (a 40% increase) achieved largely through smarter organisation rather than new construction.

The technology behind this reorganisation is what makes it work. License plate recognition at entry and exit tracks vehicles as they arrive and leave, while laser scanners and LIDAR systems monitor occupancy in real time. Drivers indicate their expected break or departure time via a terminal, and the system then guides them to the most efficient available space via variable message signs and a mobile app. Initial simulation point to average peak occupancy rising from 72 to 110, easing saturation without the delays and expense of a traditional expansion project. The project also demonstrates a model that other high-demand corridors could replicate: limiting civil works while still delivering a meaningful capacity gain, alongside greater comfort and safety for resting drivers.

SINA–SATAP: knowing what’s on the road, not just how many

Further along the network, on the A4 Torino–Milano motorway between the Novara Est junction and the Milano Ghisolfa barrier, SINA and SATAP addressed a different question: what exactly is travelling through, and whether it’s safe.

To address that issue, a Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) solution was implemented: two dynamic scales equipped with 28 sensors and 9 cameras, installed across different carriageways, alongside a static weighbridge. The system is designed as a flexible, modular “end-to-end” solution that can be configured to different applications, allowing continuous, real-time weight monitoring without requiring vehicles to stop.

The second component targets dangerous goods specifically: four ADR detection stations, equipped with 10 cameras and dedicated software, interface directly with the radio control room. Intelligent cameras issue a notification for every relevant transit, capturing license plate, country of origin, ADR vehicle plate, transit time, direction and vehicle class. This data feeds into Sincro ADR, a purpose-built software platform providing risk analysis, post-incident strategy management, video analysis integration and automatic alarms for the traffic control centre, giving operators a single, unified view of dangerous goods movements along the corridor, in both routine and emergency conditions.

Tunnel Safety: One of MATIS’s Priority

Tunnels are amongst the most demanding environments on Europe’s road network. Confined spaces, limited visibility and the difficulty of intervening quickly in an emergency all raise the stakes when something goes wrong. Across the MATIS programme, 3 partners have each tackled this challenge and show how MATIS partners are approaching the same underlying question — how to make tunnels safer — from genuinely complementary angles.

Cerchiarello: equipping the tunnel itself

On the A4 Torino–Milano motorway, SATAP focused on the Cerchiarello tunnel, an 800-metre twin-bore structure sitting at a complex interchange node. The tunnel was equipped with a comprehensive package of ITS devices: 18 AID (Automatic Incident Detection) cameras, 7 cross/arrow signs, 3 variable message signs, 4 entrance traffic lights, 127 lighting devices (15 of which are dedicated blue safety-distance lighting), and 5 SOS stations complete with LED signalling and radio retransmission cabling.

The aim is straightforward: reduce the number of accidents and cut the time it takes to manage an emergency once one occurs. The project also included configuration and upgrade work at the control centre itself, so that the new equipment integrates properly with existing operations.

traffix.ai: teaching the cameras to think

Cameras alone are only as good as the software interpreting what they see. That was the starting point for SINA’s work with CDT on the A12 Sestri Levante–Livorno and A15 La Spezia motorways in Tuscany. The issue wasn’t a lack of detection technology: it was the sheer number of false alarms it generated. A change in brightness, or something as trivial as a sheet of paper blown onto the sidewalk, could be misread as a pedestrian, triggering an alert that operators then had to investigate.

The solution, deployed across roughly 26 tunnels, is the traffix.ai software: a system combining 3D object tracking with a Deep Learning module to classify vehicles and detect abnormal traffic situations in real time. The results speak for themselves: in the May–September 2024 evaluation period, the average false alarm rate fell to just 3%, down from around 90% before the software was introduced. That is a dramatic reduction in the noise operators must filter through, freeing them to respond faster to events that are genuinely happening.

AUCAT: a full-scale overhaul on the C-32

On the C-32 motorway near Barcelona, AUCAT faced a different starting point altogether: not one tunnel, but sixteen, spread across a 47 km coastal corridor carrying more than 26,000 vehicles a day. Rather than a single fix, the project set out to modernise the whole safety chain at once, tying every upgrade together through the HORUS tunnel management platform.

Optical sensors on roads and ramps detect oversized trucks before they reach a tunnel too low for them, triggering automatic alerts on nearby signs to guide them off safely. Over 100 new LED warning signs, built to withstand the weather, have replaced faded older ones, displaying clear day-and-night messages on hazards and speed limits. Slow mobile links have been swapped for dedicated fibre connections, giving signs and equipment an instant, reliable line to the HORUS control room. Inside the tunnels themselves, cameras now monitor escape routes, lane lights guide or block traffic at entrances, and backup power keeps everything running through outages, all coordinated by smart controllers reporting into the same platform.

The results reported so far are substantial. Detection times have improved by around 12 seconds, keeping more vehicles from entering tunnels where an incident is already unfolding. Queues caused by incidents have been cut by roughly 50%, freeing up more than 10,000 vehicle-hours a year and accident risk inside the tunnels is expected to fall by around 1.5 crashes annually.

ITS and Decarbonisation: MATIS’s Contribution to Greener Road Networks

Reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 also means squeezing the emissions out of the infrastructure we already have. Congestion itself is a carbon problem: a vehicle stuck in stop-and-go traffic burns far more fuel per kilometre than one moving at a steady pace. This is the specific problem the MATIS consortium’s ITS deployments are built to attack. Across MATIS 1 alone, the programme targets a 3% reduction in CO₂ emissions at major bottlenecks — a modest-sounding percentage that, multiplied across an entire TEN-T corridor, represents a substantial volume of avoided emissions.

Smoothing the flow to avoid stop-and-go emissions

The clearest emissions lever is preventing traffic from bunching up in the first place. On the Rennes ring road, DIRO’s ramp-metering system holds vehicles at the access slip roads for up to a minute, so the ring road itself never tips into gridlock. Each vehicle that doesn’t sit in a queue is a vehicle that isn’t idling and re-accelerating; the first deployment already delivered significant queuing time avoided per day across morning and evening peaks, a direct proxy for fuel and emissions saved, with four further access points now feeding into the same logic.

A share of a motorway’s emissions also comes from the jams that build up behind an accident or a false alert. This is where MATIS’s incident-detection work has a direct decarbonisation payoff. On Catalonia’s C-32, AUCAT’s tunnel-management upgrade goes further, cutting incident-related queues by more than 50% and freeing over 10,000 vehicle-hours a year that would otherwise have been spent stationary rather than moving.

The energy backbone behind a lower-carbon road

Decarbonising the network also depends on infrastructure most drivers never see. On the A4 Brescia–Verona–Vicenza–Padova corridor, a new SCADA system gives operators real-time remote monitoring of the power supply feeding tunnels and roadside equipment, catching faults before they cause an outage that would otherwise disrupt traffic flow — and with it, generate the very stop-and-go emissions the rest of MATIS is designed to eliminate.

Taken together, these projects make the same point from different angles: cutting road transport emissions is not only a question of which vehicles are on the road, but of how well the road itself manages the flow, the incidents and the conditions that push a smooth journey into a stationary, fuel-burning one.

 

Cybersecurity on the Road: Why MATIS Puts Digital Resilience at the Core of Road Safety

Road safety no longer depends only on the state of the asphalt — it also depends on the robustness of the digital systems running smart roads. Among its 89 projects along the Mediterranean, Atlantic and North Sea-Mediterranean TEN-T corridors, MATIS treats cybersecurity as one of its five core intervention areas. Two completed projects, in France and Portugal, show what that means in practice.

Securing the Sirius traffic management system in Île-de-France

The DGITM-DIRIF secured the Sirius traffic management system, covering the A13, A6, N104, A104, N184 and N10 — about 1,000 km. Sirius connects all roadside equipment outside tunnels (variable message signs, data collection points, access control) to the traffic centre, driving traffic plans and real-time information.

The upgrade covered three layers: encrypted, certificate-based exchanges at the software level; switches and routers replaced with firewall-equipped, cyber-secure devices at the network level; and firmware or module updates on terminal equipment to enable encrypted communication. It also had a human side: the project trained maintenance technicians, supervisors and traffic operators who weren’t previously familiar with cyber issues, and kick-started DiRIF’s broader cybersecurity policy.

Securing data communication on the A24 in Portugal

APCAP/NORSCUT renewed the telecom and telematics infrastructure of the A24, linking Chaves (Spanish border) to Viseu. The project deployed a 157 km Local Area Network with new backup hardware (a Backup Proxy server, a StoreOnce 3660 unit) connected to the existing fibre network — securing 24/7 data communication, including data transmission to the Portuguese State.

Cybersecurity, again central in MATIS 2

Now with MATIS 2, the approach is consistent: securing the digital layer is part of road safety, not an afterthought.

 

 

 

MATIS to attend Connecting Europe Days

MATIS will be taking part in Connecting Europe Days 2026, held in Brussels from 28 September to 1 October 2026. MATIS will be represented at the event by Christophe Boutin, Coordinator of MATIS.

This flagship event is organised by the European Commission specifically for projects that have received funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). It brings together the various beneficiary projects, offering a valuable opportunity to exchange experiences, identify potential synergies and discover best practice across the sector.

The gathering draws together a wide range of players in the transport world — elected officials, banks and other financial backers, businesses from across the industry, and representatives of the European Commission itself. Their shared aim is to work through practical steps and swap lessons learned, with a view to shaping a European transport network that is more competitive, better able to withstand shocks, safer and more sustainable. The program is built around several essential priorities:

  • how Europe’s transport system underpins competitiveness, resilience and global connectivity,
  • the future of infrastructure funding and financing,
  • how transport and connectivity policies contribute to strategic autonomy and resilience of essential supply chains, enable military mobility, and strengthen Europe’s ability to act with partners beyond its borders.