Traffic signals to become brighter

By S. Shivakumar

CHENNAI, JULY 25. Motorists will soon find a `visible' change on city roads. Under a new project, traffic signals will be made brighter and visible from quite a distance.

Light-emitting diodes (LED) are to be fixed for the 120 signals in the city at an approximate cost of about Rs.two crores. These will be visible for at least a km, say traffic experts.

Already the traffic signal on Kamarajar Salai near Gandhi Statue has been converted with LED on an experimental basis. Apart from the advantage of greater visibility, the conversion cuts operation and maintenance cost by about 90 per cent.

The LED-based traffic light consumes only 10 per cent of the power of the existing incandescent lights. Moreover, these last longer - between five to 10 years.

With about 20 new vehicles hitting roads everyday, studies reveal that the peak hour traffic on important corridors in the city is experiencing an average annual growth rate of four per cent. There is a decrease of eight to 10 per cent in the peak hour journey speeds. With improvements to road infrastructure not matching the pace of traffic growth there is an increase in congestion and accidents.

A traffic planner, welcoming the introduction of LED traffic signals, says that apart from the long-term strategies for augmenting the road capacity like widening, grade separation at intersection, these traffic management schemes and control systems have to ensure efficient movement of traffic.

The adverse impact of the increasing traffic is felt at road intersections leading to piling up of vehicles and snarls. With synchronisation of signals and the formation of more `green corridors' the waiting time at signals can be reduced, he says.

This will also facilitate the introduction of `Intelligent signals'. These signals will be synchronised in such a way that they study the traffic flow and give priority to the sector which has more vehicles. The waiting time at signals will be reduced considerably.

These signals will be very effective during the nights as vehicles moving on empty roads will automatically get the green signal when reaching the traffic intersection.

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Section  : Southern States
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