Traffic cops plan automatic-manual signal combo to handle festive rush
Times of India | 19 August 2025
Kolkata: The automated signalling, now in place across the city, will be made dynamic — a mix of automatic and manual — based on ground situation as Kolkata heads to the festive season.
According to police, all traffic OCs have been asked to mark important stretches where manual traffic flow becomes the norm during the festive season due to the increased entry of vehicles into the city. "In such a situation, we can fix the manual timings — if it can be fixed over consecutive days — as automatic timings for the time being. This will help in two ways — one, it will spare us officers who can then be deployed in crowded areas and two, it will help motorists know exactly how long to wait at the crossing instead of depending on the officer at the spot," said a senior officer.
A meeting in this regard was held at Lalbazar with the DCP concerned asking the OCs to complete the recalibrations by Aug-end. Several crossings have been recalibrated with a new algorithm that can figure out hourly changes in signal timings, depending on traffic flow at that point in time at that particular crossing.
Wherever these recalibrations have been completed — based on real-time updates from traffic guards and Google inputs using advanced artificial intelligence — it has been so fine-tuned that it takes barely three to six traffic cycles, even at important crossings like Shyambazar or MG Road-CR Avenue crossing, for traffic to normalise even after a sudden disruption like an accident or procession once the disruption is removed.
The biggest success, perhaps, is the introduction of a mechanism where traffic guards and Lalbazar can communicate seamlessly on the requirements on the ground. "A simple email from the guard can help Lalbazar change the automated setting at a particular signal," explained an officer. The hourly setup has already helped speed up movement on select stretches of Kolkata lying between Shyambazar-C R Avenue-J L Nehru Rd-S P M Road up to Tollygunge the entire E M Bypass.
Cops say this automatic signalling and synchronisation has been devised keeping in mind the average speed of traffic in the city (30-35 km/hr, a little higher for Bypass), the traffic volume at any given hour at that spot, and the various signal cycle timings fixed for the different traffic hour slots. "It has always been a dynamic process. The modifications are making the process even more dynamic," said an officer from the traffic planning department.
Sources said that while wait time at major crossings will not change much, motorists might have to stop for only a few seconds at the non-important crossings, thereby saving time during office hours.