HMDA to set up Highway Traffic Management System

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), which is responsible for the maintenance of the 158 km-long Outer Ring Road (ORR), has come up with a new Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS). Officials from the HMDA say that the project will become operational in May 2018. All abnormal movements on the ORR, including bikers, scooters, jaywalkers, and animals, will be recorded so that appropriate action may be taken.

HMDA officials say that the bikers who enter the ORR are often cops. They say that they are on official duty, or that they have to travel long distances. On rare occasions, civilian bikers enter the ORR and behave rudely with the staff at the toll plazas. “In case the bikers are cops, we try to stop them, but they ignore the staff and head on, leaving us helpless. And in case they are civilians, we inform the cops, but we rarely file complaints against them,” an HMDA official said.   The HTMS is intended to put an end to these problems and make the ORR safer for users through the use of a cautioning mechanism.

It will utilise a video incident detection system to capture any abnormal incidents and immediately alert the control room. The software will be capable of detecting poor visibility, oil spills, movement of vehicles in the wrong  direction, and if a vehicle has been halted on the road for more than a minute, among other things. Upon receiving an alert, the control room will immediately dispatch patrol teams to resolve the issue. “In the first stage of the project, four cameras each will be installed at 19 interchanges on the ORR. Over time, cameras will be installed over the entire ORR,” says an HMDA official.