Joe GallopSRL delivered its biggest integrated event solution to support the traffic management plan at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.
SRL – one of Europe’s largest manufacturer and supplier of mobile ITS (intelligent transport system) solutions to the traffic management and events sectors – provided an integrated package for the 2023 Somerset festival which attracted in the region of 210,000 visitors between 21–25 June.
SRL provided Glastonbury Festival Events with an integrated traffic management solution comprising a range of products – VMS, CCTV and ANPR cameras and work-zone protection barriers – in support of its traffic plan.
The project was the firm’s largest event contract to date in terms of the quantity of equipment supplied. It said it was also one of its most sophisticated, assisting the management of high volumes of traffic – including vehicles forming part of the UK’s largest dedicated event coach fleet.
SRL established a project planning team three months prior to the festival and made preparatory site visits. The team stayed on site before, during and after the event, working in the control room as part of the wider traffic management operation. There it was able to adapt VMS communications immediately in response to the rapidly evolving traffic flow.
The SRL team monitored external traffic using data generated by Portable CCTV cameras. The cameras, VMS and security barriers were all solar-powered to preclude the need for battery changes and improve reliability. SRL presented driver instructions on 32 Smart Messenger VMS, directing visitors along the best route to the four main entrances and public car parks around the eight-and-a-half mile festival perimeter.
SRL VMS were also used to encourage drivers to drive at a safe speed through the neighbouring village of Pilton and to advise those arriving at Castle Cary railway station of car park capacity. For the first time in the event’s history, messages could be displayed in white text and full colour where location allowed to maximise visibility.
Smart and Portable VMS were deployed before the event to manage traffic during set-up. Five Instaboom solar/hybrid work-zone protection barriers coordinated with ANPR to facilitate controlled access to specific sites.
Within the festival grounds, Smart Portable Messager VMS were deployed to direct drivers to the 61 car parking fields and camping zones and to instruct them to drive slowly to minimise airborne dust; they also helped guide pedestrians to the different stages and events.
SRL business development director Iain McDonald said, “SRL has been providing traffic management solutions for the event sector for many years and this is by far our largest integrated project to date. The team has worked phenomenally hard and in close partnership with organisers and is very proud of what it has achieved”.