The 25-km long Noida-Greater Noida expressway is likely to have a fully-functional Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) to monitor traffic and make movement safe for commuters. The system is expected to be in place by October.
The ITMS, which is partly functional on the Yamuna expressway, is a high-tech system which monitors traffic along expressways, alerts commuters of traffic movements and ensures swift response to them.
It provides real-time traffic advisory information to motorists through electronic message signs. Overall, it is provides an integrated platform that centralises the management of all traffic systems, such as traffic signal control, traffic monitoring, incident management, tunnel and highway monitoring and provision of real-time traffic advisory information are also other features of the ITMS.
The ITMS would comprise metrological data system, an emergency call box, CCTVs, moving cameras, Video Incidence Recording System (VIRS), Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and variable message signboards. The whole system will be monitored from a control room, which will be set up in Sector 14A. A total of 96 cameras will be installed on both sides of the 24-km stretch out of which 48 will be Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) while 48 will be fixed cameras at a kilometre distance on the entire carriageway. These apart, 24 VIRS and 24 ANPR cameras will also be installed at every 2-km distance.
According to officials, the system is being sponsored by an Austrian company at a cost of Rs 43 crore, and is expected to bring down the accident rate on the road by about 25 per cent. The work is going on at a hectic pace to launch it in the next four months. While the Optical Fiber Cables (OFCs) on the Noida to Greater Noida flank have been placed, those on the other side are 60 per cent done.
“We will soon begin laying the cables along the Greater Noida to Noida carriageway. We have to install 11 Variable Message Sign Boards (VMSBs) at different points, which will display information about traffic gridlock, speed, accidents on the stretch. ANPR cameras are also being installed as they can capture images of numberplates up to 300-m distance,” said Sandeep Chandra, the technical head of the project, and in-charge of Noida Traffic Cell.
Soon after the cables are put in place, a total of 144 CCTVs, one each at a distance of 1-km will be placed at a height of 14 metres to detect movement up to a distance of 280 metres. large lED display boards will also be put in place to caution motorists about road and weather conditions. The most important feature of the system is reducing response time to an accident. Road users will be guided on speed and will receive instant emergency services. “The expressway will be under surveillance 24x7 which will also help curb crimes on the e-way,” Chandra said.
Since its inception in 2002, the expressway has witnessed hundreds of deaths. More than a 100 people have lost their lives in this year alone. “Accidents on the expressway will decline if Traffic Police enforced the rules strictly and there is implementation of the ITMS. Around 50 per cent accidents occur due to lack of traffic sense among commuters, which needs to change,” Chandra said.