Discussions around signal-free corridors in Bengaluru have been going on for some time. But at present, it is still a distant dream. Albeit, the authorities do want the Karnataka capital’s commuting to become more punctuated and hence have decided to install 500 new automatic signals across the city. Also, the existing ones will be upgraded into adaptive signals.
By Next Year Bengaluru To Have 1,000 Automated Signals
At present, there are 450 automatic signals in the city and the traffic police are planning to take this number to 1,000 by next year thereby cutting down the number of junctions that are signal-free.
The additional commissioner of police (traffic) P Harisekharan said, “Under phase 1, we’ll convert over 350 automatic signals into adaptive ones which will be fitted with sensors and cameras and change lights depending on the traffic density at any given time of the day without manual intervention. Under phase 2, we will add 200 more automatic traffic signals in all zones. We’ve proposed bringing the total number of automatic signals to 1,000 in a little over one year.”
Harisekharan said that the 200 automatic traffic signals will cover all the major junctions in the city. He added, “Setting up of adaptive signals is expensive, which is why we’ve decided to go in for more automatic signals.” The traffic authority of Bengaluru will be taking help of Bharat Electronics Limited to upgrade the automatic signals. The entire activity will cost around Rs. 76 crores.
First floated in 2017, the process of installing adaptive signals have already started. At present 35 such signals have been installed mostly on the outskirts of the city.
Will New Automatic Signals Make Bengaluru Roads Safer?
Although traffic junctions on all the major roads of Bengaluru are manned and most of them have automatic signals, it is the smaller intersections that have become a nightmare for commuters. The data shared by Bengaluru Traffic Police reveal that the IT hub of the country has 44,000 intersections whereas the strength of traffic police staff is only 5,000 out of which only 338 intersections are signalized whereas 500 intersections are manned.
Earlier Harisekharan had said, “The traffic police are always blamed for the chaos on the road but there are multiple reasons which are not in our hands.” With the increase in the number of automated signals in the city hopefully, these dangerous smaller intersections will become less frightening.
