Conway Security's tunnel vision

27 Jul 10

The two 1.1 km tunnels on the A1(M) motorway are cut-and-cover structures whose legacy traffic control systems needed replacing.

The upgrade is being overseen by a Skanska Balfour Beatty joint venture. The Hatfield Tunnel is part of the Trans-European Road Network and is being refurbished in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Conway is providing the units for use within a MATRICS tunnel control solution from P Ducker Systems. MATRICS is a semi-configured package with dual redundancy that allows infrastructure clients to retrieve and manage data for display and control purposes.

Exact specifications

Conway was able to provide stainless steel products to exact specifications which met unusual site needs.

Exceptional resistance to corrosion from traffic fumes and an ability to withstand unusual levels of vibration were prerequisites, demands that Conway satisfied as a result of working closely with some of PDS’s design team.

The enclosure used here is a variant on Conway’s stainless steel EH4 housing which, in addition to traffic infrastructure locations, is used in coastal and marine environments where ingress of water and salt are a threat. The unit is manufactured to weatherproof level IP66, and is available in either 304 or 316 grade stainless steel.

The camera assemblies are mounted on bespoke stainless steel brackets that were designed and manufactured by Conway in co-operation with the project team at PDS.

Solid platform

The unique bracketry had to be adaptable to ensure the camera had an optimised angle of view, and at the same time provide a solid platform to minimise movement caused by traffic.

The housings are protecting Bosch Dinion IP cameras which allow MPEG-4 and JPEG compression modes simultaneously.

Conway also designed and manufactured a washer unit completely from stainless steel with co-polymer fixtures and fittings to address the needs of the Hatfield tunnel whose harsh conditions demanded a custom solution.

Ricky Oliver of Conway commented: “The Hatfield Tunnel project threw up interesting issues for PDS who shared these challenges with us."

Oliver added: “We worked with their design and management teams at all stages and delivered solutions to problems that were identified at the outset or in some cases emerged during installation. Having complete control of our design and manufacturing operations allowed us to support PDS thoroughly.”

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