High visibility, full colour variable message signs (VMS) from Kennards Hire have boosted safety during work on the M80 Ring Road Upgrade in Victoria.
The high visibility message signs were supplied by Kennards Hire, which now has specialist traffic equipment branches right across Australia.
The M80 Ring Road Upgrade will improve the 38km Western and Metropolitan Ring Roads from the Princes Freeway at Laverton North to the Greensborough Highway at Greensborough.
The M80 Ring Road Upgrade is a $2.25 billion project, jointly funded by the State and Federal Governments. It involves ensuring a minimum of three lanes in both directions for the entire length, additional lanes between some interchanges and installation of electronic systems to manage traffic flow.
The upgrade will improve safety, ease congestion, reduce travel times and improve reliability on one of Melbourne’s key transport corridors.
Kennards’ traffic management equipment hire centre in Melbourne has supplied several of the safety message signs being used by the Tulla Sydney Alliance, the contractors completing the first section of the upgrade between east of Calder Freeway and Sydney Road.
The Alliance is a partnership between VicRoads, Thiess, Parsons Brinkerhoff and Hyder.
Since the Alliance’s own fleet of full colour remote controlled VMS units are all in use, Traffic Superintendent Jason Bond has called on Kennards to supply them with extra variable message signs.
The variable message signs are controlled from a central point and used to advise motorists of speed limits and changes in traffic conditions.
Mr Bond considers VMS units to be state-of-the-art, best practice for the industry, similar in concept to Freeway Management System displays.
“They don’t have the saturation coverage of amber coloured signs and, at this stage they are capturing the attention of motorists.
“Safety is of paramount importance to the Alliance and the quicker and more effectively we can get information to motorists the better.”
Kennards Hire has opened new traffic equipment branches in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia, joining operations in South Australia and Victoria, which were launched last year.
