The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is planning to revolutionise the way in which traffic is managed in Johannesburg this year.
According to announcements made by acting MD Mpho Kau at a media briefing in Newtown recently, the entity is keenly aware of the effects of faulty traffic lights on traffic flow, amongs other inspirations for the strategy.
The roll-out of several technological innovations was announced, which will act to reduce the effects of faulty traffic signals, minimise the economic impact caused by congestion and reduce road-user frustrations. Big things are to happen at the 2 135 traffic signals motorists depend on in Johannesburg.
According to Darryl Thomas, the JRA’s head of mobility and freight, the implementation of several solutions have commenced with several more down the line this year. Among them are; the use of uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems in impenetrable casings, the replacement of signal cables with industrial cables that have no street resale value and the roll-out of remote monitoring systems (RMS) to all traffic signals. The installation of the latter is to be completed by end June, he said.
“The RMS will automatically report signal 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 was quoted saying.
Furthermore the JRA plan to adopt an Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) to consolidate and integrate all traffic monitoring technologies, from fault reporting to social media reports and real-time roadside data, into one interface. A tender to build the cloud-based ATMS is to be advertised in weeks to follow, Thomas said.
Finally, the Metro Police is to launch a specialised unit, the Infrastructure Protection Unit, in May, which will escalate responses to theft and vandalism. They will assist in actively patrolling hot spot areas and the apprehension of thieves, he said.
Kau urges the community to assist the JRA by continuing to report vandalism and theft of infrastructure in addition to traffic signal outages. To this end, residents are urged to download the JRA’s Find & Fix mobile app. Find the app here:
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