The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has roped in a private party to install upgraded signals called Intelligent Traffic System (ITS) on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis for 10 years. The private party, Stanpower, a Hyderabad-based company, known for its innovative technology applications, is likely to give a presentation on ITS to traffic and BMC officials next week. The BOT will facilitate the BMC to have full rights over the assets after 10 years. The company will only get advertisement rights and the cost of operation during the period.

The new system can assist traffic authorities in maximizing the operational efficiency of the signals, said BMC commissioner Sanjib Mishra. “ITS will help ease the traffic flow, reducing delays and fuel consumption of vehicles. It will also help monitor air and noise pollution,” said the commissioner. The ITS uses technology such as CCTV camera-linked traffic controllers and central operation centres, where the computers analyse the traffic flow and disseminate traffic management information, added the commissioner.

At present, the city has about 60 traffic posts of which 20 have signals, which can be operated both manually and automatically. However, human intervention is still required to monitor the violators. “At times we fail to penalize the violators as we have to run after them. Once the technology is installed, we can penalize the commuters later as the CCTVs will capture the registration number of violating vehicles,” said traffic ACP Binod Das.

The commissioner has written to Bhubaneswar DCP, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), regional transport officers and chief engineer of roads seeking their cooperation to adopt the system in the city. “If the stakeholders are convinced about the benefits of launching the technology in Bhubaneswar, the company will be given the go-ahead,” said the commissioner.

“The traffic management in urban set-up has undergone many changes. It is no more limited to flashing of lights at intersections. Present system can’t monitor red light jumping and speed of vehicles. Secondly, there is human intervention while tracking the violators, who don’t wear helmets and drive without fastening seat belts. In many cities, the violations are documented by the technology,” said urban planer P R Rout.

“The ITS technology is so sophisticated that it is able to detect any solid object near traffic posts. The system runs through a central server, which can maintain the database of all traffic signals of the city,” said a BMC official .

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