Smart Traffic Infrastructure Delivery with Project Controls

An intricate schedule, a small budget, and multiple stakeholders present challenges for smart Traffic infrastructure delivery. However, Project Controls can eliminate redundant processes and procedures, monitor the progress of the process, and reduce risk. This analysis by Bhavin Lakhani, Project Controls Specialist Lead, PMP, CCM, & Chartered Engineer, DACK Consulting Solutions, Inc., looks at how project controls help keep projects on course.

Innovative traffic infrastructure projects confront enormous challenges like increased vehicular traffic & congestion, delay in land acquisition, miscommunication among stakeholders and road safety concerns. Moreover, there is insufficient real-time information that obstructs planning. Without proper traffic insights, projects have problems in meeting the demands.

Project Controls serve as the backbone to ensure the project’s success through effective management. These are not instruments, but are strategies to ensure cities are bright and habitable.”

— Bhavin Lakhani

Solving the Problems

The Project Control offers a systemized method to deal with complexity. They include tools, procedures, and strategies to manage projects on course with objectives. Cost management monitors the expenses in real-time, which eliminates overruns.

For example, software keeps track of budgets, thus revealing discrepancies earlier enough. Scheduling clarifies the timelines. Dashboards show the daily progress and identify the teams in trouble. Risk management assists in anticipating issues that can be encountered, such as holdups in the supply chain, and the solutions to these problems.

Risk management tools led to a 25 per cent decrease in project delays in 2023. IoT sensors and AI are used in data integration to provide real traffic data. Bright traffic lights can use real-time data to coordinate timing and automatically cut delays by up to a fifth.

Coordinating between stakeholders can streamline governments, contractors, and communities by giving regular updates to reduce conflicts by 30%. Including technology like 5G to facilitate smooth communications assists in the timely and cost-effective delivery.

Bengaluru Adaptive Traffic Control System Case Study

Motor parking is a nightmare every day in Bengaluru, India. As a tech hub, the city experiences a vehicle population of more than eight million vehicles operating on its streets. To solve this, the Bengaluru Adaptive Traffic Control System (BATCS) was implemented in 2021. The project is an AI-driven program that controls 165 intersections with real-time adaptive signals.

It was developed in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and it is an IoT-based and AI tool to optimize traffic speed. Its success was focused on project controls. The specific planning was conducted in detail to decrease travel time by 20%. The project was a highly tight budget of Rs 150 crore.

The auditing was conducted weekly to ensure transparency. There was also risk management in case of delays due to roadwork plans, which were implemented in phases by zone. AI analysed traffic data collection by IoT sensors and programmed signal patterns to change dynamically. D-CAC coordinated with the city authorities and met daily to discuss the progress.

The result? Travel time was reduced by 15-20% in the central regions, the load in congestion areas decreased by 10%, and fuel consumption declined by 5%. There was also a 12 per cent improvement in emergency response time. This case demonstrates how project controls can deliver measurable results in complex, innovative traffic projects.

Recommendations

• Use real-time data. Install IoT sensors to track traffic flow, its speed, and density. Processing this information will alleviate congestion by up to 25%
• Secure the tangibility of goals. Have quantitative targets, e.g., a 10 per cent decrease in travel time or a five per cent reduction in emissions
• Conduct routine audits. Budget and schedule reviews are performed weekly, identifying problems early and preventing 15 percent of potential cost overruns
• Make new teams. Productivity can increase by 20% using software such as MS Project
• Communities are on the same page and the number of disputes reduces by 30 percent
• Adopt high technology. This helps improve data transmission and reach heights of responsiveness of 40%
• Risk plan. Excessive potential delays such as regulatory hold-ups, should be anticipated and contingencies implemented
• Measure sustainability. Periodic safety inspections during construction reduce accidents by approximately 10 percent
• Finally, implement real-time dashboards. Monitor carbon footprints to stay within the environmental objective

However, the delivery of these projects is fraught with problems —budget overruns, delays, and coordination issues.