ATC signal pilot project gets BMC nod

The standing committee of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday approved a pilot project of installing 50 new Area Traffic Control (ATC) signals, which will help reducing the waiting time for commuters at traffic signals.

According to the data provided by BMC, out of 583 traffic signals, only 255 are based on ATC, of which 135 are in the city, 65 in the western suburbs and 60 in the eastern suburbs.

The move comes after the Mumbai traffic police wrote to the BMC, asking it to install more ATCs across the traffic signals of the city.

Signals with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) will come in place of the present tungsten bulbs in the new project.

"It's a welcome move if they have taken such a decision. We had requested them to install ATC signals to ease traffic jams at major junctions as they will not have to be controlled manually," said joint commissioner (traffic) Dr BK Upadhyay.

In the new system, once a time is set on the signal, it adjusts one signal cycle timing based on the traffic volume.

The sensors fitted in the road gauge the number of vehicles passing through it and the signal cycle is adjusted accordingly.

The cost of the project has been estimated at Rs5.66 crore.