SICE works providing motorways with intelligence, installing several equipment controlled by its own software, with the aim of increasing security, improving mobility and comfort, optimizing the installations and providing useful information to users in real time. The company integrates different roadside equipment, systems and technologies for the global traffic management on road, aiming at ensuring efficiently users safety and mobility.
SICE develops and implements integral solutions for the management and control of electro-mechanical and traffic systems in tunnels and oversees their maintenance and operation. The company offers a comprehensive centralized tunnel management system used to control and monitor all tunnel equipments and to guarantee maximum levels of safety and operation for both routine management and in emergency situations.
SIDERA offers a comprehensive solution for the centralized management of intelligent transport systems (ITS) based on each project's requirements. SIDERA facilitates traffic and incident management, provides surveillance, security and emergency management, facilitates electrical and mechanical management and collects and reports data regarding the operation and performance of roadways.
Implemented in over 60 locations worldwide, SIDERA manages more than 2,500km of roads and 346km of tunnels. This advanced traffic management system software allows the transportation management centers (TMCs) to control and monitor roadside equipment and incidents.
One of the major exponents of SIDERA's performance is WestConnex, the largest transportation project in Australia, which provides quality connections along the motorway between Port Botany, the western part of Sydney and the Airport. SICE will control the M4 section (including two twin tunnels 5.5km length) and the second contract fot the M5 section (two 9km twin tunnels). The M4 East section is expected to be integrated with the M5 section on the same control platform under the name WestConnex OMCS (WOMCS), which will operate the entire WestConnex project thanks to SIDERA.
SIDERA has proven to be a universal system. A good example of this is the Gambetta Tunnel in Lima (Peru). In this case, the software enables remote control of both the tunnels’ electrical system and electromechanical systems (ventilation, fire-fighting system and lighting). SIDERA provides the operators with an interface where they can view the status of the equipment and the progress of any incidents in real time and with interactive and schematic maps of the facilities.
SIDERA is a flexible platform that adapts to the specific requirements of each project. With more than a year in operation, Waterview Connection represents one of the best examples of what SIDERA is capable of doing: more than 63,000 vehicles running through the twin tunnels every day. Waterview is currently the longest and most complex tunnel that has ever been constructed in New Zealand. The platform can distribute travel information to the driving public and exchange critical information between agencies. It can also associate and execute a Response Plan in the event of an incident that has been automatically detected, based on how this has been defined in the Incident Management System.
One of the best-known tunnel projects operating with SIDERA is the Miami Port Tunnel (POMPT Miami Tunnel), which connects the Miami port and Interstate 395 (I-395). With a length of 1,219 meters and over 12 meters in diameter, this is one of the most important projects in the last decade for SICE Inc. The company installed the smart traffic systems, as well as developed its own SIDERA tunnel management SCADA, for the FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) via the BCWF (Bouygues Civil Works Florida). SICE also provided the distributed control systems connected to the FDOT traffic management center located in District 6, and the two operation centers located on Watson Island and Dodge Island.
The biggest challenge to which this software has been subjected is the total integration of the Calle 30 tunnels in Madrid (a world benchmark project in urban tunnels): a unique project in terms of its size and scope, as well as in terms of the challenging delivery deadline (13 months). Madrid Calle 30 has been one of Europe’s main urban transformation projects, with the remodeling of the thoroughfares and land through which the old M-30 ran, and the construction of more than 47 km of tunnels that are managed from its impressive Control Center. This nerve center is the driving core that coordinates and synchronizes both facilities and human resources, making it possible to ensure optimum supervision and control of the whole network. In this context, the application developed by SICE is responsible for monitoring and controlling over 400,000 signals: security systems, electromechanical installations, traffic, communications and lighting; all this in order to ensure safety in one of the largest urban tunnel complexes in the world.
More recently, the company has celebrated Seattle's SR99 Tunnel opening. The Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project is an iconic project for the city. The tunnel, which features 2 lanes in both directions, is the largest doubled-decked tunnel in USA, carrying two lanes of northbound traffic on its lower deck and two lanes of southbound traffic on its upper deck. The SR 99 Tunnel is now considered as one of the smartest and safest tunnels ever constructed, in part due to SICE’s Advanced Traffic Management System Software, SIDERA, which controls and monitors roadside equipment and incidents.
Nowadays, the company is ready to start a new challenging project: last December, SICE and Trafikverket signed the agreement for the implementation of the traffic systems in the iconic E4 Stockholm Bypass project. SICE will have to deliver the design, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance of systems such as LED variable message signs, traffic detectors, tunnel closure barriers and the regulation of access to the freeway. The company will face various complex challenges, such as the effective coordination with multiple international contractors simultaneously carrying out their tasks, or the implementation of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodology chosen by Trafikverket to manage the project.
