The traffic centre

The role of the traffic centre is to serve as a central command post for service of roads and tunnels. Its chief responsibilities concern the fulfillment of winter service, as well as the monitoring of tunnels. The traffic centre also monitors the risks associated with avalanches, landslides, volcanic eruptions, seismic activity, river floods, damages to roads, along with various other undertakings meant to ensure increased traveller safety.

The traffic centre co-ordinates winter road service, monitors road conditions, ensures rules for winter service operations are being followed, and monitors road closures due to weather conditions or natural disasters. Shift managers call on employees or contractors for road monitoring as well as snow and ice removal, in collaboration with the IRCA’s 18 operating units, scattered across the country.

The tunnels in Hvalfjörður, Norðfjörður, and Dýrafjörður are equipped with a monitoring system and incident cameras. These allow shift leaders to respond quickly if dangerous travelling conditions arise. The system detects deviations from normal traffic through the tunnels, such as when drivers stop inside the tunnels, a car catches on fire, something falls off of car or trailer onto the road, or if a cyclist or an animal enters the tunnel, to name a few examples.

The traffic centre handles the closing of a tunnel should it be needed for priority transport, i.e. ambulances or police. There are strict safety requirements in the tunnels, and monitoring is one of the factors ensuring that the IRCA can respond quickly if safety concerns occur.

The IRCA’s traffic centre is operated in Garðabær and Ísafjörður, by a total of 22 shift leaders.

The IRCA’s 1777 traffic service is responsible for informing travellers regarding road conditions, weather- and travelling conditions, and road work — from morning to night, all year round. The traffic service responds to travellers’ enquiries through phone or e-mail, publishes announcements on umferdin.is, via text, and e-mail, as well as handling the switchboard service of the IRCA. The 1777 traffic service works closely with the IRCA’s traffic centre in the gathering and communicating of information to travellers. The 1777 traffic service is open from 06:30 to 22:00 every day, year round. The IRCA’s switchboard services are open on working days from 08:00–16:00.

The role of the 1777 traffic service is to provide the latest information on road conditions and the weather for travellers, offer guidance and support through phone and via e-mail, provide applications regarding exemptions to weight limits on roads, and to answer questions about the Loftbrú.

Service representatives monitor weather forecasts and road conditions closely. They also receive tips from travellers, and share them with the IRCA’s traffic centre and service stations.

Winters are the traffic service’s busiest period. During an eventful winter day, the 1777 traffic service answers up to 3,000 phone calls and issues around 150 notifications which appear on umferdin.is and trafficinfo.is.

During summertime, travellers call for assistance for planning trips all around the country; gathering information about distance and road conditions on the highlands. People also frequently call with tips and comments regarding the completion of necessary tasks such as dust binding and road grading, making note of potholes or road damage, seeking assistance using Loftbrú, as well as asking about construction being carried out at any given time.

The traffic service is operated in Ísafjörður, with eight employees experienced in providing information to the travelling public. The traffic service sends out daily notices regarding weather and road conditions, road construction and repairs, closures, and weight limits that can affect a driver using the road system. The latest notifications can be found on umferdin.is, and trafficinfo.is