Streamlining traffic: 10 loop-detector traffic signals to be installed

System will automatically detect vehicles approaching a signal.

LAHORE: City Traffic Police, in collaboration with the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA), will install 10 new loop-detector traffic signals to reduce traffic load at important intersections soon, The Express Tribune has learnt.

CTO Tayyab Hafeez Cheema  said the system had already been installed at the Avari Hotel signal on The Mall. Cheema said that the system would automatically detect vehicles approaching a signal. “If no vehicle crosses the signal for five seconds, the signal will automatically turn red,” he said.

“If there is only one vehicle on one side of the road and there are more vehicles on the opposite side, this system will automatically ensure that the signal on the congested side remains green for longer,” Cheema said.

He said that these signals would be installed at Regal Chowk, Firdous Chowk, Shadman Chowk and Shauk Chowk.

DSP Traffic Khawaja Zahid Abbas said these signals would help in managing the smooth flow of traffic and will also help mitigate the waste of green signal. Ahmed Hashim, who routinely drives across The Mall, told The Express Tribune that the new signal had improved the traffic. “I now manage to reach home from work approximately 10 minutes earlier,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2014.