Pune - CSN national highway under surveillance of Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS)

AI-technology proposed to curb road accidents and save human lives.

LNN Rafique Aziz

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

To curb the growing accidents and fatalities on national highways, the Maharashtra State Transport Department (MSTD) and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will soon be installing Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS), on Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar - Pune National Highway and eight other highways, having high traffic densities, in the state. The chief minister Eknath Shinde-led cabinet meeting held in the city announced the approval of the estimate of Rs 188.19 crore on September 16.

The nine highways are from Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur regions. Three from each region have been shortlisted reviewing their high traffic densities; number of accidents and deaths. The ITMS will cover a distance of around 2000 kms.

When contacted at the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar camp office of MSRDC, the superintending engineer (Engineering Section) Ramdas Khalse was not available to elaborate on the ITMS plan as he was on tour.

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AI-based ITMS

Hundreds of high-quality cameras will be installed at more than 50 places throughout the Pune-CSN Highway. These cameras will have Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities to find violators (infractions). It will be installed on both sides of the highway and will be connected through integrated optical fibre. The ITMS operations will be further linked to the Command and Control Centre (CCC) which will open 24x7 and will work in coordination with the Regional Transport Officials (RTO) and Traffic Police.

These authorities will be given information on breaches found by the cameras so they can take additional action, such as enforcing penalties and managing traffic.

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What are 17 violations ?

Maharashtra’s ITMS is designed to detect 17 different violations like

Lane Cutting

Driving in the wrong lane

Riding without a helmet

Driving without a seatbelt

Overspeeding

Overloaded vehicle

Unfit vehicle etc.

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We are ahead of Kerala!

MSTD has polished the ITMS project proposal and recommended its implementation on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

According to higher sources, “ The Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar had toured Kerala to study the functionality of the ITMS project using AI cameras. However, the ITMS in Kerala detects only nine violations, while Maharashtra's will detect 17 violations. Foreign countries like Singapore are using such advanced technology for managing highways effectively without human intervention.

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Names of highways to be equipped with ITMS (length of road covered under the system)

(A) Pune Region - 780 kms

Pune - Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar : 230 kms

Pune - Solapur (Umerga) : 350 kms

Pune - Nashik : 200 kms

(B) Mumbai Region - 470 km

Nashik - Dhule (Hadakhed) : 230 kms

Mumbai (Kalamboli) - Kolhapur : 360 kms

Thane (Ghodbunder) - Achchad: 110 kms

(C) Nagpur Region - 455 kms

Nagpur - Akola : 240 kms

Nagpur - Chandrapur : 150 kms

Nagpur - Deoli : 65 kms

Total Distance Covered: 1935 kms