Imagine that you are driving from Jaipur to Delhi, your
car breaks down and you need emergency medical aid, you pull your hair in
frustration! Wait a minute, help on this superhighway would be only a few
minutes or meters away.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has
commissioned Siemens to set up a first-of-its-kind Highway Traffic Management
System (HTMS) on the 86-km stretch between Amer and Kotputli. The project will
turn National Highway 8 into first e-highway of India.
The Rs 17.5 crore project entails the installation of a
highway traffic management system which comprises emergency call boxes, variable
message signs, close-circuit television systems, automatic traffic
classification counters, mobile radio communication system and meteorological
sensors supported on a optical fiber network.
"The unique project proposes to provide highway
traffic management system on a section of NH-8 for the collection and
dissemination of information and for providing safe and efficient traffic
movement for users," said an official of Siemens. "Drawing on its
global expertise, Siemens is providing a modern traffic management system, which
will help in significantly increasing the road safety on the highways."
The system will pre-warn highway users about unusual
conditions on the highway. The HTM system will reduce the anxiety of a road user
through provision of emergency call boxes by which a user can get connected to a
central control center and ask for assistance in case of an emergency. The
company plans to set up 43 emergency call boxes which would be connected to the
highway control center, to be located in Sahapura, nearly 60-kms from Jaipur.
The call boxes are proposed to be set up at a distance of nearly two-kms on
either side of the highway. When in need of assistance, people travelling on the
highway can get to the nearest box and call up the control center.
Siemens is laying down a fiber optic network between
Amer and Kotputli, which would form the backbone of the information system. NHAI
proposes the network upto Delhi in the later stage. The system will also provide
advance information on road conditions through variable message signs and detect
congestion through closed-circuit television cameras and traffic counters.
Besides this, the HTMS will also provide meteorological
sensors for temperature, wind, humidity and visibility. The project is expected
to be completed by the second quarter of 2001.
(CNS)