Tired of waiting at signals? Get ready for shorter halt

Gurgaon: Commuters will soon not have to wait for long periods at the city’s traffic signals as the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will kick off its automatic traffic management system (ATMS) this month. All the traffic signals on the stretch linking Huda City Centre and Subhash Chowk will be covered in the first phase of the project.
The system will monitor traffic through cameras installed at intersections, on the basis of which it will calculate the time of the red light at the junction and the next traffic signal on the stretch so that a commuter doesn’t have to wait at two signals in a row.
This, GMDA officials said, will reduce congestion and ensure that commuters can cross the junction in a single red light and don’t have to wait for longer time periods.
“Cameras that can read the traffic volume will be installed 150m before every traffic junction. These cameras will observe the traffic volume and communicate with the next signal through the system. Once the ATMS receives the traffic density, it will set the signal depending on that density,” a GMDA official said.
He added that data from three prior traffic lights will be linked. In case one of the carriageways meeting at the junction has more traffic volume than the other, longer time will be allocated for that carriageway.
The project is being implemented in association with a Japanese firm. “The pilot project was successfully concluded last year. Once the first phase is successful, we will be setting up the system at other stretches as well,” said the official.
In order to ensure that people do not jump the signal, GMDA is already monitoring traffic through its CCTV network, part of which has already been set up. Feed from these cameras is being regularly monitored at its Integrated Command and Control Centre. A team of traffic police personnel is monitoring defaulters regularly, officials said.
The mobility wing at GMDA is working on several projects to streamline traffic across the major congestion points in the city. To that end, the metropolitan authority recently floated the tenders for the decongestion and redevelopment of Mayfield Gardens Chowk and Bakhtawar Chowk.