The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed an ambitious plan for Mumbai's roads as it looks forward to replace traffic signals with single or unitary signage poles.
The unitary poles will have public address systems that can allow authorities to pass down emergency messages, including when there are diversions to traffic. Moreover, the unitary poles will also offer brighter and bigger traffic lights. It will also include Wi-Fi sensors and offer additional features to keep motorists better informed.
BMC will install CCTV cameras to monitor traffic in addition to redlight violation cameras to track traffic violations in realtime. Surveillance will be ramped up significantly using the unitary pole design.
Moreover, some of the traffic poles will consist of emergency buttons to divert traffic when there's been an accident on the path.
Environmental sensors will be built into these poles to give an accurate reading of the air quality as well as temperature and humidity.
BMC has appointed a consultant to study the proposal at a cost of Rs 2.7 crore. Moreover, each unitary pole will cost Rs 4.5 lakh taking the overall cost of the project to Rs 93 crore.
As a part of this plan, BMC is expecting to install nearly 2,000 unitary poles. It has set a deadline of six months to finish all formalities and is expecting to have these new signage poles ready within the next three years.