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Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System

The Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System (EMAS) is an expressway incident management system that monitors and manages traffic along Singapore's expressways with an array of cameras. Detection cameras along the expressways monitor vehicle speed and obstruction. The information is fed back to control centres where operators verify it with surveillance cameras. This will then generate a message onto an electronic signboard to highlight conditions along the roads to motorists. Information includes the estimated travelling times with an update every minute. Traffic concerning other expressways can also be displayed on these electronic signboards. All of Singapore's expressways are tracked by EMAS.

Description
Designed and implemented by Singapore Technologies Electronic & Engineering Ltd at a cost of S$9.5 million, it provides up-to-date traffic alerts and forms part of a long-term plan by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to reduce traffic congestion caused by accidents on the expressways.

EMAS uses information technology to help LTA detect vehicle breakdowns, traffic congestion or accidents and responds quickly by sending help out to remove obstructions on the expressway.

When any obstruction or breakdown is detected, an EMAS control centre is alerted and reports are faxed automatically to the Traffic Police and the radio and television stations. Messages are then flashed on electronic signboards along expressways and major roads leading to it, which tell motorists what the problem is, where it is, and the estimated time it takes to get to selected locations.

The system was launched on the Central Expressway on 21 March 1998 and on the Ayer Rajah Expressway on 10 November 1999. From 1 April of 1998, selected stretches of the CTE could be viewed on-line via the websites of the Land Transport Authority and the Television Corporation of Singapore. By June 1998, CTE's emergency SOS phones was also linked to the expressway's control centre to speed up communication on vehicle breakdowns. EMAS was extended to the Pan-Island Expressway, the East Coast Parkway and the Clementi-Tuas stretch of the AYE by the end of 2000, while Bukit Timah Expressway, Kranji Expressway, Seletar Expressway and Tampines Expressway was covered by mid-2001. All 150 km of Singapore's expressways was tracked by EMAS by 2001.



Author
Cheang Chee Yew, 2001



References 
Emas will cover all by 2001. (1999, December 6). The Straits Times, p. 45. 

LTA to merge its 4 Traffic Info Systems. (1999, January 15). The Straits Times, p. 56.

Top marks for Singapore's roads and public transport. (2000, September 10). The Straits Times, p. 3. 

Traffic alert on more roads. (1992, December 2). The Straits Times, p. 41. 

Up-to-date information on all expressways from year 2000. (1998, March 22). The Straits Times, p. 2.

The information in this article is valid as at 2001 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Commerce and Industry>>Transportation
Transportation--Singapore
Communication and traffic--Singapore
Business, finance and industry>>Industry>>Services>>Transportation and logistics
Law and government>>Safety administration>>Land transportation



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