TrafficInfraTech Magazine Linking People Places & Progress
The HTMS on Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road is the best in India, writes T Chiranjeevulu, Metropolitan Commissioner of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. It also provides a benchmark for HTMS for other highways and expressways.
The Outer Ring Road (ORR) is an access controlled expressway that encircles a large area within the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) area. The ORR is a 158 kilometres eight lane divided highway (four lanes in each direction) with service roads on either side. The ORR also has the provision for a future rail corridor on one side.
The main objectives of ORR are the following.
• Provide quick access to various centres of activity within the city and urban nodes outside
• Connect the National Highway and State Highway network with important city roads
• Act as a by-pass for the through traffic on the National Highways and State Highways, thereby reducing congestion and accidents and pollution on city roads
There are 19 interchanges on the ORR connecting five State Highways, five National Highways (including NH-44 that connects Kanyakumari with Varanasi and carries a large volume of traffic) and a number of radial roads that provide connectivity to growth centres, satellite towns and industrial parks. The radial roads are expected to facilitate opening up of new areas and encourage the shift of industrial and commercial establishments from the city centre.
The ORR is designed to expressway standards, having a speed limit of 100km/h. The highway has highly visible static signboards providing drivers with speed-limit information, warnings and advisory messages, informational messages and navigational information. Direction signboards providing navigational information include advanced directional signboards roughly 2km upstream of interchanges, directional signboards roughly 1km upstream of interchanges and confirmation signboards at the interchange itself. In addition, an advanced Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS) is being implemented to ensure smooth and safe operation of the ORR and to provide traveller information to the road users.
Highway Traffic Management System
The HTMS system under implementation consists of the following components grouped by functionality:
Monitoring
• Automated Incident Detection cameras (AID)
• PTZ CCTV cameras (PTZ)
• Automatic Traffic Counters-cum-Classifiers (ATCC)
• Meteorological sensors (MET)
Information provision
• Variable Message Sign boards (VMS)