Time is running out to vote in the RACV Redspot Survey

FROM a tiny control room on Bourke St, these data analysts can help your NavMan calculate the quickest route to your destination or help drive roads planning and policy.

TRIPS on Melbourne’s most congested roads can take up to three times longer during peak time than off-peak, new data has revealed.

Traffic on Kings Way in Southbank can slow to just 18km/h during peak times, compared with the average speed of 49km/h.

Over Barkly St in Footscray, cars can trudge along at 14km/h during the so-called “rush hour”, while speeds on the Western Ring Rd can drop from 90km/h to just 35km/h.

Are these the most gridlocked roads you travel on, or does another grind your gears?

You’ve only got until July 2 to vote in the RACV Redspot Survey and tell us which road is the most congested in Melbourne.

MELBOURNE’S MOST CONGESTED ROADS REVEALED

SPEED CAMERAS RAKE IN MILLIONS

VOTE NOW IN THE RACV REDSPOT SURVEY

By examining a year’s worth of GPS data the team was able to generate an accurate picture of our most congested roads for the RACV Redspot Survey.

From a small headquarters on Bourke St, local success story Intelematics collects and analyses terabytes of GPS data — from tens of thousands of vehicles across the city — to use in a variety of ways.

The real-time information can help your in-car navigation plot the quickest route to a destination while an analysis of historical data can inform roads management and infrastructure planning.

A bank of screens covers one wall bearing a map which can zone in on a particular area – in today’s case, the Hoddle grid.

Some city streets, such as Russell and Exhibition, glow red while a blue dot glides up CityLink leaving a green trail in its wake.

Steven Maloney at the Intelematics control room in Melbourne. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Intelematics product manager Steven Moloney said they did this by measuring what the average speeds were on segments of road and comparing them with the speed limits for those thoroughfares.

“We compare the current speed of general traffic that against what the general uncongested speed is on that road and that allows us to produce a comparative measure of congestion,” Mr Moloney said.

“So on the screen, when you see the colour red, yellow and green that represents the relative speed against the uncongested flow for that particular piece of road.”

Intelematics analysis revealed traffic on Kings Way can slow from 40km/h to 18km/h during peak time. Picture: Josie Hayden

At the worst performing sites, motorists could find a peak-hour trip taking three times longer than if using that stretch of road during a less congested time.

“Because of the GPS data available we can actually say people travelled from here to here in this time,” lead data scientist Boris Savkovic said.

He said governments were always looking for better ways to measure how roads infrastructure was performing and the data provided helped with roads management and planning.

The company is also looking at how these sorts of insights can help public transport users and pedestrians.

Steven Maloney, Boris Savkovic and Dan Kelly in the Intelematics control room. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“There are data feeds from the train system, from traffic, from pedestrian counts – how do you aggregate all this data and make it smarter?” Mr Savkovic said.

“The general theme is that smarter cities will be sucking in this information and using it to work in a more optimised way – if you are travelling from home to work, what is the optimised journey?”

Intelematics research found traffic on Barkly St, Footscray, could slow to just 14km/h during peak travel times. Picture: Rebecca David

The traffic information is sourced from a range of partners such as trucking fleets, auto clubs, not-for-profits and industry body groups.

Intelematics traffic and content operations program manager Dan Kelly said they anonymised the data.

“We rotate device IDs daily, we can’t track people day-to-day,” Mr Kelly said.

“We’re very aware of privacy.”

Time is running out to have your say about Melbourne’s most congested roads.

Voting closes on July 2 and RACV members who take part will go into the draw to win a $1000 RACV gift card.

Vote for what you think is the most congested Melbourne road at redspotsurvey.com.au