CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation could soon award contract for implementing the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Installation Project in the Chennai Metropolitan Area. "Three companies submitted bids on June 10 and technical evaluation is underway and it will be finalised within a couple of months," said Corporation officials.
The total cost of the project, funded jointly by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the State government, is Rs 904.88 crore. "The project cost was Rs 660 crore initially. However, after conducting meeting with all stakeholders, including the MTC and police department, components like speed limit violation system and red light violation detection, which were not part of the original plan, were incorporated," said officials.
The major components of the project are traffic information and management system (TIMS) and city bus system (CBS). Under TIMS, adaptive traffic signal control system, which would change the signals based on real-time traffic, will be installed in 165 junctions. Currently, changing the signals is done manually or based on standard timings.
The intersection at the 165 junctions would also have signboards, road markings and other small alterations. Traffic incident detection system will be installed at 58 locations, where the traffic merges or diverges to detect any abnormal traffic activity, including accidents, and alert the concerned officials.
The variable message system in 17 places through electronic display panels will help inform drivers about traffic on the roads ahead and detour they can take to reach their destination faster.
This apart, TIMS will also include automatic traf fic counters-cum-classifier system in 115 locations and a probe set. It will study the traffic movement continuously and can be used for planning projects accordingly.
All these will be managed through a command and control centre. The bus system will have another command and control centre, which will keep an eye on the monitoring system in 3,500 buses, passenger information system in 71 terminals and 532 bus shelters and management system in 31 depots.
"Both the bus monitoring system and passenger information system are linked and it will help passengers know the real-time movement of buses. Under the depot management system, the MTC can also monitor efficiency of their employees apart from the status of the buses stationed there," said officials part of the project.