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The provision of truck parking at rest areas on motorways has not been able to keep pace with the development of heavy traffic in recent years. The current deficit of truck parking spaces confronts the Autobahn GmbH with a task that cannot be covered in the medium term with conventional expansion and new construction measures alone. In this context, telematic parking procedures, truck parking guidance systems and precise information for truck drivers are becoming significantly more important in order to be able to react to the increased demand in the short to medium term.
General background: why is this project happening?
A detection of the occupancy of the truck parking lots is required that is as precise and autonomous as possible. Autobahn GmbH is therefore pursuing the strategy of swift, needs-based equipping of rest areas along the most important routes that are heavily used by heavy traffic.
In order to obtain precise and autonomous information, area detection in particular has prevailed in recent years. With this, the occupancy by vehicles is recorded over the entire area by rotating laser detectors mounted on masts. Due to the regular detection run at intervals of less than a minute, incorrect detections can be automatically recognized and corrected by the system after a minute at the latest. The system has been in continuous operation at several rest areas for years. (Picture 2)
Objectives, Results expected, Project description, Implementation schedule
The first implementation phase included in MERIDIAN focuses on the important motorways with a single-digit number (e.g. A1). These fulfil large-scale connection functions in Europe and are particularly important for long-distance freight transport – both nationally and internationally. Three groups have been defined for the gradual equipping of these rest areas. MERIDIAN only includes the equipping of rest areas with the highest priority: rest areas with at least 50 truck parking spaces. This priority group includes a total of 176 rest areas with 14,100 truck parking spaces. The construction phase will start mid 2023. A large part of rest areas should be equipped by end of 2025.
In order to keep costs and efforts low, the detection systems should be set up in self-sufficient units on rest areas, i.e. without cable-based energy and data connections. For this purpose, solar panels with buffer batteries for the energy supply and cellular or WLAN connection for the data connection are provided (picture 1 & 3). Depending on the type, the detection system is mounted on masts of different heights, which stand on a small concrete unit that contains the technology. These measures avoid costly civil engineering work, especially in existing buildings.
Truck parking spaces will be available in the Autobahn App (see “Free parking spaces displayed in the Autobahn App”).
Provision of truck parking information on the most important rest areas along the European long-distance freight corridors in Germany