Driving on the Chandigarh roads will now be easier and hassle-free with the new time skip system being introduced to ease out traffic congestion in the city. A long wait for green signal after the red at the intersections will be cut short substantially once the new system comes into force.
Chandigarh will be the first city in the country to introduce the time-skip system to keep traffic movement in check. The initiative is being perceived to be a major step by the administration after a surfeit of piecemeal measures it adopted to check the menace of traffic mess-up boomeranged.
Owing to high vehicle density, Chandigarh roads are already bursting at the seams, adding to the traffic woes. The city comes to a screeching halt especially during the peak morning and evening hours. Long serpentine queues can be seen in Chandigarh, especially at the designated light points due to long spells of traffic signals.
Keeping the burgeoning traffic mess on roads, the city’s Integrated City Command Control Centre (ICCC) has come up with an innovative time-skip idea to streamline vehicular traffic in a better manner. The administration has been going the whole hog to introduce the much talked about time-skip in the city to monitor the traffic movement, thus avoiding chances of a possible botch-up. The administration is pulling out all the stops to ensure early implementation of the new system.
How will the Time Skip System Work?
The ICCC has installed sensors at certain light points which transmit information regarding the flow of vehicles coming from all directions to the Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS), signalling passage of the vehicles. Notably, where there is lesser rush of vehicles from any direction, green light will be up to 30 second duration at the most.
However, where there are long queues of vehicles at light points with long spells of wait at red signal, the sensor will sound a signal to the ATCS to remove the red signal to allow passage for other vehicles caught up in the gridlock. The new system would help reduce the halting timings at the light points to a bare minimum.
Where will ‘Time Skip’ not Work?
The system will, however, not work where traffic pressure is consistent undergoing no change in traffic patterns. like the Tribune Chowk, the Hallomajra Light Point and Hallomajra Chowk, among others, to name a few.
Trials for ‘Time Skip’ Conducted
A trial reality check was earlier conducted on the Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS) to ensure proper implementation of the ambitious project. Under the system, the level of congestion of vehicles was put to a reality check at the 3BRD light point. These were carried at as many as 40 different intersections across the city given the movement of all modes of transport.
During a month-long research, a timer was set up at the intersection light points to monitor the flow of vehicular traffic, to ensure that the road users had to halt at the light points for a lesser duration than usual. So, the new time skip system will prove to be a boon in disguise to check the menace.
‘Time Skip’ will Ease Traffic Congestion
Reliable sources in the department told CityWoofer that concerted efforts were being made for over months now to clear the hurdles to ensure proper implementation of the new system. The exercise will offer a solution to reduce traffic congestion at the busy intersections by enhancing the duration of green light signal. The new system would not only help check the frequent traffic snarls up but would also reduce consumption of fuel with a quantum cut in halt timings.
“The initiative of the administration is laudable for more reasons than one. It will not only address the residents’ traffic woes, but will also save the road users from getting trapped in traffic gridlocks,” says retired PU Professor Harish Kapur, a traffic marshal with UT Traffic Police for over eight years.
(The writer, Ramesh K Dhiman, is a former staffer of The Tribune and freelancer. He has written extensively for leading newspapers and magazines on art, culture, mythology, besides travelogues.)
Good initiative… it was in the pipeline and was being discussed since last year… This step will definitely help in reducing waiting period of the daily commuters…