Integrated traffic flow monitoring system in a large-scale tunnel

The Metropolitan Expressway plays a vital role as the main artery in and around Metropolitan Tokyo. Together with the increase in the number of vehicles using the expressway, both the number of traffic accidents and the frequency of congestion situations have been on the increase. The Metropolitan Expressway Public Corporation (MEPC) needs to take expedient necessary action to help prevent any secondary accident or disaster by analysing pictures (scenes) picked up from the CCTV. On the thru lanes of the Metropolitan Expressway, about 900 CCTV cameras to monitor vehicular flow and control traffic have been installed. Thus, the MEPC has directed its attention to an image processing system which can automatically detect any abnormal incident. In a highway tunnel, in particular, when an accident occurs, it can easily lead to a serious incident such as a secondary disaster or fire.