City using technology to curb traffic snarl-ups

30 March 2016

 

The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) – the City of Johannesburg’s roads and storm water infrastructure provision and maintenance entity – is rolling out several technological innovations to reduce the effects of faulty traffic signals, minimise the economic impact caused by congestion and reduce road-user frustrations.

 

Mpho Kau, JRA’s Acting Managing Director, said the entity was keenly aware of the effects of faulty traffic lights on the free flow of traffic and the resultant impact on competitiveness and productivity in the city.

Kau was speaking at a media briefing at JRA’s Traffic Signal Depot in Newtown on Thursday March 17.

“In addition, the current construction on the M1 freeway is pushing vehicles on to Joburg’s suburban and inner city roads and the need for working traffic lights continues to grow,” he said

Darryll Thomas, JRA’s Head of Mobility and Freight, said the entity had implemented several solutions to address the issue of faulty traffic signals caused by damaged electrical components, car accidents, power outages, theft, vandalism and cable faults. He said JRA had over the past three years completed two projects aimed at protecting the City’s 2 135 traffic signals from harsh weather conditions, theft and vandalism at a cost of R12.7-million.

The entity also spent R28-million to replace ageing controller equipment with more weather-resistant units and a further R40-million on the replacement of old lead-encased cables with new PVC-covered aluminium cables with little street resale value.

Thomas said other solutions included:

• Deployment of innovative earthing mats at lightning hotspots to reduce the effects of lightning strikes;

• Use of uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems in impenetrable casings;

• Replacement of signal cables with cab tyres (industrial cable with no street resale value);

• Use of CCTV cameras and remote alarm sensors to detect tampering; and

• Rollout of remote monitoring systems (RMS) to all traffic signals, which is expected to be completed by the end of June 2016.

“The RMS will automatically report signal and infrastructure faults to JRA’s Traffic Operations Centre, resulting in quicker response and repair times and a reduction in the dependency on fault reports from the public,” he said.

Future plans include the adoption of an Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS), which will consolidate and integrate all traffic monitoring technologies – including fault reporting, social media reporting, real-time traffic roadside data from CCTV coverage and traffic signals – into one interface.

The tender for the Cloud-based ATMS will be advertised within the next few weeks,” said Thomas.

Thomas added that the Infrastructure Protection Unit would also be launched in May to escalate responses to theft and vandalism. This specialised unit, from the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, will assist in actively patrolling hotspot areas and the apprehension of thieves. JRA was allocated an operating budget of R943-million in the 2015-2016 financial year.

“JRA is committed to rendering visible service delivery across the city and ensuring that road-user mobility with working traffic signals is a priority. The community can assist us by reporting vandalism and theft of infrastructure as well as any traffic signal outages via our numerous reporting platforms,” said Kau.

Members of the public are encouraged to download the JRA’s Find & Fix mobile app for easy reporting of traffic signal faults and other issues.