Bangalore: Intelligent signals reduce congestion

Intelligent signals reduce congestion

The traffic police plan to centralise control of signals, and launch the vehicle actuated signal system at around 25 junctions, shortly. Sai Prasanna reports


In a bid to make commuting across the city easier and traffic less congested, the Bangalore City Traffic Police will introduce a vehicle actuation system and centrally controlled signals. They are in operation in some junctions already and will be taken up on a larger scale now. Under BTRAC-2010, Rs 350 crores has been allocated for a period for five years to install signals, signage, CCTV cameras, and enforcement cameras. Every year, Rs 70 crores will be used for these improvements.

Signals
The city has 500 main junctions and 40,000 junctions totally, including crossroads. Presently, 256 signals have already come up in the city, and there will be another 150 signals by the end of this year. From January, all signal lights will be centrally controlled from the Traffic Management Centre (TMC). Senior officials in the traffic department say, "Depending on the volume of traffic, we will adjust the timings from the TMC to avoid congestion. No person should wait at a signal for more than 2.5 minutes. At some junctions like Central Silk Board junction, due to the heavy trafficvolume, we are already adjusting timings."

Once the signals are in place, CCTV cameras will be installed in phases. In each phase, 40 junctions will be taken up. The second phase is almost complete with 80 signals also having CCTV cameras. The third phase will begin next month. Each camera costs Rs 8-10 lakhs.

They are being installed to monitor the density of traffic and for security purposes. Officials say, "Every junction will have signal lights, after which they will be provided with CCTV cameras and then enforcement cameras." Presently, five enforcement cameras have been installed at Kamaraj Road-Cubbon Road junction, Hennur-Banaswadi junction, Padmanabhnagar junction, JP Nagar junction, and BHEL junction (near Tata auditorium). These cost Rs 45-50 lakhs each and there is a plan to have 10 more cameras by January. "We have not yet decided on the junctions where they should be installed. But Hudson Circle, Trinity Circle, Minsk Square, Basaveshwara Circle, and South End Circle are some of the junctions that will be top priority for installing them."

Also, five more interceptors will be bought now at a cost of Rs 25-30 lakhs. At present, there are two trafficinterceptors to bring negligent drivers to book.

Signage
The traffic police will come up with uniform signage on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) from Electronic City to the international airport. The signboards will come up at 80 points and will be located at a distance of one to two kilometres from each other. They will mostly come up at junctions and will have reflectors to enable people to see them even from a distance. The approximate cost to put up these signages is Rs 7-9 lakhs. Apart from this, 10,000 more signs like 'no parking', 'no entry', and direction boards at junctions have been ordered in the first instalment. As of now, 40 percent of these signs have already been installed.

Vehicle actuation system
From January, the vehicle actuation system will be in operation. Presently, every signal has fixed timings irrespective of traffic volume. This leads to unnecessary wait at signals even when there is no traffic. The vehicle actuation system will set timings for signals depending on the volume of traffic. Once all the traffic has moved, the signal will automatically change to let other vehicles pass, reducing the wait time. "During peak hours, the maximum wait for an entire cycle of traffic movement will be reduced to just one and a half minutes", the official explains.

There will also be different timings set for peak hours and lean hours. In the first phase, signals at 25-40 junctions will be made vehicle actuated.