Written By tsubba - 5 October, 2007

Traffic Bangalore BTRAC

By October-end Bangalore will have a new traffic control system - Vehicle Actuated Signal System which, the Hindu reports, will facilitate faster movement of traffic BEL begins installing sensor lines at 48 locations The city, which is witnessing tremendous growth in vehicular traffic, is gearing up for a new type of traffic control system. The work includes surveillance and enforcement cameras mounted at different places, vehicle actuated signal systems, sensor-driven corridor synchronisation and a central control room for monitoring traffic movement. In a chat with The Hindu here on Wednesday, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) K.C. Ramamurthy said the city’s traffic was not being handled effectively by the present system and that it needed a new system — the Vehicle Actuated Signal System (VASS). The system facilitates faster movement of traffic and every “time cycle” will be monitored as well as administered by a chain of sensor-driven signal posts. The VASS has been designed by the public sector Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and will be highly proficient automatic traffic management system, claim sources in BEL. The density of vehicles is gauged by a sensor at a given time cycle and the signal is referred to the traffic signals posts. Explaining the concept with an example, the sources said the system would be fed with different time cycles depending on the estimated volume of traffic. The police had conducted vehicle density sample survey of different places and had arrived at more or less the exact density of traffic in most of the city’s roads and traffic islands. The estimated “time cycles” were based on this study, Mr. Ramamurthy said. The sensors would relate to the time cycle and regulate the traffic signals in tandem with the recorded vehicular density at a particular time. Traffic density The time cycle ranges from a minimum 10 seconds to 60 seconds. At a time when the traffic density was very low — say 1 a.m. — the sensors would use the 10 second cycle, which meant the red light period would be restricted to 10 seconds. But at that particular time if the approaching traffic increased in volume for some reason, the sensor would increase the time cycle in the multiples of 10 seconds with a cut-off limit of a maximum of 60 seconds. At peak hours, the time cycle would begin with 60 seconds and depending on the density of traffic would multiply at multiples of 40 seconds. The BEL had begun installing sensor lines at 48 different places in the city and by October-end the entire city would be covered under this system bringing all 167 traffic signals under the ambit of the VASS. This system was working at West of Chord Road, Sadashivanagar and at three places on the Inner Ring Road. Mr. Ramamurthy said the traffic wing had acquired five enforcement cameras which would be mounted at various traffic points in the city. These cameras would help the police in identifying troublesome vehicles and those violating traffic rules. He said the photos and the video footage taken from the camera would become evidence in the court of law and would help the police in bringing down traffic offences. Surveillance cameras The department would also install surveillance cameras at 40 different traffic islands. It would help the police in managing the peak hour traffic and, in the case of major traffic blockages, to divert the traffic through different roads. The inputs of both classes of cameras would be recorded in the server at the traffic headquarters on Infantry Road. The camera systems would be installed at a cost of Rs. 3.33 crore and the VASS at a cost of Rs. 1.95 crore. The BEL would set up and maintain the system, Mr. Ramamurthy added. Sources in the Transport Department said that approximately 1,500 new vehicles were being registered every day and things were going to worse when it came to traffic management.

flyover/grade seperator at devegowda bunk

blrsri - 8 October, 2007 - 11:03

wasnt it planned? with the area having high profile signatures..it shouldnt be long that there is one implemented there! On other thoughts..a 3 min wait at a signal is.. 3 min loss doing nothing 3 min pollution(starting uses lot of fuel too) 3 min of frustrations 3 min of inhaling illness

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Airport Road like flyover needed

Vasanth - 9 October, 2007 - 01:23

I have seen many flyovers built in Bangalore without proper planning - without common sense. Common flyover is a bridge just crossing a circle as in National College Circle resulting in benefit only for one road. Some flyovers are planned with 1 under pass, 1 section of middle road and 1 overpass such as Jayadeva and Dairy Circle. This results in 4 combinations of uninterrupted passs. Mostly in Bangalore, they are planning like this. But, 8 other combinations will remain unhandled - which again has to have signals even under flyovers as in Jayadeva flyover. In some cases, it is left out as it is without signals as in Dairy Circle and National College Circle. In any intersection of 4 roads, there is 12 possible ways in which people move - There shouldn't be any interference to anyone. Only Airport Road Flyover handles all the combination. Hebbal flyover also handles most of the combinations. We need such kind of flyovers. Although delayed and complicated, it solves the problem. Adding an underpass will confuse and complicate more. Such kind of flyover is needed here in DG petrol bunk. Ring Road needs to be untouched, from North to South along the Uttarahalli main road, a flyover is needed. If it is done on the Ring Road, lots of heavy loaded trucks run on the ring road which cannot climb up.

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flyovers just dont help - period

silkboard - 9 October, 2007 - 02:23

Blrsri - if you do a flyover there, you may wait only 30 secs at DG bunk, but would then wait 240 secs or more at your next signal/bottleneck. Even the airport road flyover - how has it helped? All the traffic now waits at whatever signals or bottlenecks lie after the flyover in each direction. Without a comprehensive plan for a given road, which should include - synchronized signals, - widening it uniformly (so that there are fewer lane merges) - and then doing underpasses or flyovers at strategic places Then it will help. Above could be done for Outer Ring Road for example. Doing a flyover just at junctions you find choked is a very short sighted exercise and gross waste of public money.

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Roads & Highways

tsubba - 9 October, 2007 - 03:00

Until we keep confusing our streets and roads as highways this will keep happening. Roads and streets are only to provide access within layouts(think about them as villages/towns) and between neighboring layouts. not to act as link roads that connect distant layouts. in most cities of the world they donot build flyovers to city roads. they build then on city highways. every time there appears to be a need to build a flyover/grade separator at a junction, it is basically saying that there should be a highway here. there should be a highway network on top of the city's road network. for example at DG road, if you take out local traffic from long distance traffic you will suddenly find that the intersection is adequate. ORR should really have been a highway. instead as SB pointed out we have apartment complexes with balconies connected to the exhaust pipes of vehicles stranded on it. SB article on Ribbon Development has me so riled up.... OK we have been cursing babus all along, but what about the hi-fi private builders, they have all the gyaan- right? if i ever get to meet the guy who built that apartment complex at marathahalli, I am going to go tom and jerry or better yet obelisk and the roman legionary on him.

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Synchronized Signals is what we need

Vasanth - 7 October, 2007 - 10:12

Main problem today that we are facing is waiting in 'N' number of signals that too as long as 180 seconds leading to piling up of vehicles. Many times we have to wait 2 or 3 turns to get the actual green. This leads to frustation and then people will speed up to compensate the lost time leading to accidents and traffic jams. Currently, from KR circle to upto almost town hall while coming from Maharanis to Market flyover is synchronized and we get continuation. Even the wait time in the centre portion of Bangalore is less at around 120 seconds maximum. It is the southern Bangalore especially on the ring road which is really frustating. Near Devegowda petrol bunk, people have to wait 180 seconds and many times we cannot get the signal in one pass. This is a good move - let us wait and see when it will be functional and how effective it will be.

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