A large wall features a 4- by 14-meter screen, flanked by banks of color monitors—54 in all. Facing the wall are two amphitheater rows, each with five workstations. Each workstation features a pair of computer terminals and six monitors displaying real-time video and live data.
Welcome to the Operations Control Center for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project in South Boston. Resembling a smaller version of NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, its job is to monitor the tunnels, ramps, bridges, and surface highways that comprise the Big Dig. When you consider that some 250,000 vehicles will use the system every day, it’s a Herculean task.
To accomplish it, project designers have created a command-and-control network loaded with high-tech tools. More than 430 closed-circuit cameras positioned throughout the system will send video back to computer monitors at the Control Center, making it easy to pinpoint accidents. Some 1,400 detectors embedded in the roadways will constantly measure traffic density. Operators at the Control Center will use 130 electronic message boards to update travel conditions, and they’ll use 300 electronic lane control signals to channel traffic around accidents and maintenance work. Other control features include devices to monitor environmental conditions, detect gasoline spills in the drainage pump stations, report the status of 10 electrical substations and backup power systems, and provide rebroadcast of two-way, AM, FM, and highway advisory radio.
And if traffic does get too congested, carbon monoxide sensors in tunnels automatically control the largest highway tunnel ventilation system in the country, keeping the air fresh, and drivers safe.
