B-TRAC first phase not successful: IISc

Even as the evaluation report by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) revealed that the first phase (from 2007-2012) of the Bangalore Traffic Improvement Project (B-TRAC) has not been successful, the City traffic police are gearing up to implement the second phase of B-TRAC.

Under the first phase of the five-year B-TRAC project, the  traffic police had listed 500 junctions for improvement, of which, only 46 were developed, according to the report prepared by the Centre for Infrastructure Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) at IISc.

The report also points out the discrepancy in release of the money earmarked for the project.

The government has released only Rs 124 crore against the allocated fund of Rs 350 crore. A major part of the funds was used for civil works, video walls or providing BlackBerry handsets to traffic cops for booking traffic offenders.

Prof T G Sitharam, Chairman, CiSTUP, told Deccan Herald that the project had not been successful overall.

“However, some things were successful, such as the introduction of Information Communication and Technology, which helped the traffic police nab offenders and collect penalty instantaneously,” he said.

The numbers

Prof Sitharam said that the traffic police did not monitor and maintain surveillance cameras, pelican lighting and street furniture like flexible cones, cat eyes, reflective medians and so on. Also, only five enforcement cameras had been installed as against the targeted 26 cameras.

Similarly, of the 680 surveillance cameras proposed, 179 were installed, of which, 11 were removed by civic agencies for road improvement. Of the 95 pelican signals proposed, only 16 were installed.

The report also points out that the failure of the project was primarily because the traffic police were asked to do civil engineering works, which is not their forte.

Awareness increased

Meanwhile, another series of surveys has revealed that the awareness quotient on B-TRAC and traffic management had increased among the traffic police and citizens.

On the other hand, after the IISc submitted the evaluation report, the government did not even consult the institute for preparing the project report for the second phase, an IISc professor said.

Admitting that the project was not fully implemented, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) B Dayananda said that things were progressing gradually and the remaining junctions would be improved in a phased manner.

Another proposal for implementing the second phase of B-TRAC for improving 25 junctions is before the government for approval.