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.

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.