The PHOEBE consortium met on 4-5 December 2024 in Valencia to plan the remaining 18 months of the project and to visit the cycling lanes that are assessed as part of the local pilot activities. The ninth consortium meeting was combined with the first gathering of PHOEBE’s ‘Community of Practice’, which includes interested stakeholders, local partners from the three pilot cities and our sister projects of SOTERIA and V4SAFETY. Thanks to the hospitality of the Polytechnical University of Valencia (UPV), the consortium members experienced the Spanish city by bike and visited the traffic control centre.
Latest consortium meeting was much more than work package and use case updates
Even though the reporting of recent activities had a top priority, the consortium meeting began with a short quiz by iRAP, which aimed to identify the level of progress and potential gaps by looking back on the first two years of PHOEBE. Additionally, a recap of the Community of Practice event helped to structure the upcoming dissemination plans for 2025.
Besides the technical work packages related to the PHOEBE framework, data collection and modelling, a significant time was spent on the three use cases. Local challenges of Valencia were evidently in the spotlight of the meeting, while the involved partners of Athens and West Midlands use cases also reported.
PHOEBE partners also discussed communication plans for 2025
The EU Road Safety Cluster and the cooperation with our sister projects will see various joint dissemination activities, such as written content related to road safety research, as well as events and webinars. The latter are planned for the first quarter of 2025 in cooperation with the cluster and with the JULIA project. Additionally, the functioning use and structure of the newly launched ‘R&D Blog’ was explained and feedback was gathered. The blog will support experts to gain an deeper understanding of the research by PHOEBE partners.
Joint bike ride helped to visualise modelling area
The participating consortium members and the stakeholders from the ‘Community of Practice’ cycled along the pilot corridor in the North of Valencia in proximity of the UPV campus. Even those partners who are not actively involved in the assessment of the Spanish pilot were able to identify safety challenges related to different intersections and cycling path categories. Whereas some stretches of the cycling path within the pilot area include separated bike lanes, other areas require cyclists to ride on a dedicated area of the pavement.
The City of Valencia has around 200km of cycling paths, a flat profile and mild climate throughout the year, which caters to the increasing number of cyclists in the Spanish city. Nevertheless, the width and space allocation of some of the paths could be improved and the safety of some intersections could be enhanced. Therefore, PHOEBE pilot results will be used to highlight local challenges and suggest potential improvements for areas with a lower safety rating.
Site visit of Valencia City Hall Traffic Control Center focused on road safety challenges
PHOEBE consortium members visited the centre last week Thursday to engage with local experts and gain further insights into traffic bottlenecks, challenges and safety concerns of Valencian road infrastructure. The centre itself is housed in a former tobacco factory, which was transformed into a modern and minimalist control room and offices. The heart of the centre features a recently-upgraded video wall, which showcases live data from several hundred sensors, CCTV and traffic control cameras.
A horizontal task force of police authorities, traffic control managers and political stakeholders manage the daily traffic flows of the Spanish city. Besides the daily challenges related to accidents and congestion, the October floods of Valencia have created an additional layer of complexity. Besides the direct aftermaths of the floods, such as blocked and damaged roads and bridges, the temporary breakdown of the metro led to increased road traffic on the accessible roads.
