Advanced traffic solutions for city roads in Oct 2020

In about two years, Bengaluru will get a state-of-the-art traffic information and management system that will vastly improve the way people commute in the city’s core areas.

Karnataka has partnered with the Japanese government for implementing an Intelligent Transport System for Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 757.8 crore. Mysuru will get a similar system at a cost of Rs 125.3 crore. The Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) took technical assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to prepare a master plan for implementing the ITS in Bengaluru through a financial grant from Japan. Work on the project will start in February 2019 and get over by October 2020.

As per the JICA’s grant conditions, the DULT has appointed Japan’s Nippon Koei Co Limited as engineering consultants for implementing the system in core Bengaluru. The consultancy will prepare detailed designs, assist in bidding, supervise the implementation and assist in the start of operations and monitor the operations for a year once the system is commissioned.

The project will have two layers of functioning: Bengaluru Traffic Information Centre (B-TIC) and Area Traffic Control System (ATCS).

B-TIC would be a centralised control centre to collect transport-related data, analyse and disseminate it to the stakeholders and road users. Its data collection system will include:

* GPS probe system, with data inputs from BMTC buses, cabs, etc.

* Installation of 72 Queue-length Measurement Sensors (QMS)

* Installation of 16 Automatic Traffic Counters and Classifiers (ATCC).

B-TIC will disseminate the processed information on the expected travel time and road congestion levels to commuters and stakeholders by installing three pictographic variable message signs and developing IoT-based applications.

The ATCS refers to the Japanese traffic signal technology, MODERATO (Management by Origin-DEstination Related Adaptation for Traffic Optimization). The adaptive signal technology will be implemented at 29 junctions along MG Road, Old Madras Road and Hosur Road to improve the overall mobility by providing efficient signalling, coordination of signal controllers and improved pedestrian signalling.