Traffic management centre to be a reality soon

 The much-awaited Traffic Management Centre on Infantry Road is all set to be inaugurated by the chief minister on December 30.

The traffic police took up the project as part of the modernisation plan under B-Trac. Karnataka State Housing Corporation was entrusted with the task of constructing the building, two years ago, and the project well surpassed its deadline.

“The police department has spent between Rs 25 crore and Rs 30 crore for the building. There were certain challenges which the Corporation has to surmount, and this delayed the completion of the project. Issues like electricity connection, interior design, furnishing and equipment fitting consumed a lot of time,” B Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security), told Deccan Herald. He added that the building was now ready for inauguration.

Metro and Transport departments have such management centres across the country, but not the police department. Bangalore traffic police are the first police force to have such a centre in the country, Dayananda said.

The five-storey Traffic Management Centre has a huge video wall of 75 inch-diagonal size and 40 workstations to simultaneously monitor various parts of the City. The Centre will be used to serve twin purposes - incident monitoring and enforcement - through surveillance systems. It is fed with the data received from 353 traffic signals, 179 surveillance cameras and five enforcement cameras. It also has a traffic automation unit to generate enforcement challans and a traffic helpline.

The Centre has a video/film hall for traffic education/ awareness for schoolchildren and road users, besides a huge parking space which can accommodate 25 four-wheelers and more than 200 two-wheelers.

Transport engineers will also be accommodated to provide expertise in analysing and communicating desired output on the field. The Centre will receive data regarding tolerable queue length, congestion or an accident/incident on roads. Staff concerned on the ground would be immediately alerted for necessary action. Violations will be captured and images submitted to court as evidence, Dayananda said.

The police plan to add another 100 cameras for more effective system. The Centre is still in the initial stage and the police would add features like Area Traffic Control System, Corridor Synchronisation and Accident Information Systems in the years to come, he added.

The offices of Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security), Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic-East), Automation Enforcement Centre (currently housed on the 13th floor of Public Utility Building on MG Road) will be shifted to the new building.