Inspired by Australia tour, public works development minister HD Revanna proposes high-tech system for 2 highways

BENGALURU: The eight-lane expressway coming up between Bengaluru and Mysuru is going to be a smart corridor, if

public works development minister HD Revanna

’s proposal to adopt the

hi-tech Intelligence Transport System

(ITS) along the 140-km stretch becomes a reality.

Revanna, who visited Australia earlier this month on a

weeklong study tour

along with his department officials, said he wants to bring the highway network in the state under ITS. He has chosen two stretches — one between Hubballi and Belagavi and the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway — for a pilot project.

“It’s in a concept stage and details are yet to be worked out. The plan to manage highways using ITS is futuristic,” said KS Krishna Reddy, public works department (PWD) secretary, who accompanied Revanna.

PWD officials said the Australian company VicRoads, which had sponsored the tour, has come forward to provide technology for the pilot project. “The process for adopting ITS will be taken up along with construction of the expressway, which is expected to be completed in 30 months,” said KA Tippeswamy, MLC and adviser to the PWD minister.

The expressway powered by ITS would reduce driving time between Bengaluru and Mysuru from the present four hours to 90 minutes, PWD officials claim. “Motorists will get seamless alerts about the traffic condition, helping them plan their time, while ITS will enable them to change track based on their preferred speed limit,” said an official.

He said Revanna and his team studied the drive-time system developed by VicRoads for Melbourne’ metropolitan freeway network to provide motorists advice on real-time traffic conditions via dynamic message signing.

Variable Speed Limit Systems, another vital aspect of ITS, operates a dynamic variable speed limit system on the highway that changes speed limit of the day to respond to traffic and weather conditions. It’s linked to fixed digital speed cameras to automatically enforce the limit.

“The expressway will be a high-speed corridor in the real sense. The system even prompts the motorists to shift track based on their speed requirement,” said an official from National Highways Authority of India, which is developing the Rs 7,000 crore Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway project.

NHAI officials said land acquisition is almost done and hoped the project will be completed ahead of the schedule. Experts, however, said there’s a long way to go before ITS can be used for an Indian highway as it calls for a lot of preparation in terms of technology wherewithal. “It is a welcome proposal, but are we really prepared for such a high-end tech-drive traffic system,” asked V Ravichandar, civic evangelist and urban planner.