The Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) has announced that preparations are now underway for the start of the construction of the proposed Integrated Traffic Management Centre (TMC) in Nairobi, following the completion of the design of the facility.
The TMC will be put up on a newly acquired 10-acre parcel of land in the City Cabanas area along the East African country capital city’s Mombasa Road. The centre will be an integrated building with several floors housing smart traffic control systems and stakeholders involved in city traffic management, including engineers, system specialists, and traffic police officers.
How the TMC will work
The future Integrated Traffic Management Centre will mainly utilize an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) which comprises intelligent cameras and variable timing traffic lights as well as a command centre.
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The ITS discerns the general traffic conditions and obtains traffic flow data in real-time; using intelligent algorithms, the innovative traffic lights system allows longer traffic flow from roads with the most traffic while allocating less time where there are fewer vehicles, thus minimizing unnecessary waiting time. Â The plans also come with a mobile electronic police system that enables flexible monitoring of roads by traffic marshals.
The command center on the other hand is able to identify traffic law violation incidents where they occur thus supplementing police efforts in enforcing traffic rules and regulations for safer roads and fighting crime. According to Kura Chief Corporate Communications Officer Mr John Cheboi, the TMC will be a three-in-one facility where BRT, commuter rail, and traffic will be controlled from.
The objective of the project
Funded 80 per cent by the World Bank Group, with the balance by the national government of Kenya, the over US$ 17m project based on the management of traffic flow in the United Kingdom, and it is mainly aimed at enhancing traffic management in Nairobi.
To be honest I think we need to get rid of Round about. They take up too much space and create chaotic intersections. Traffic lights will do a much better job in reducing the chaos hence making it safer and easier to drive on Kenyan roads. We can keep Round about in low traffic areas for examples inside a neighborhoods but not on busy intersections. Also we can use Enforced Stop signs for these areas as well.
I also think we need to focus on enforcing traffic rules on the roads. Introduce fines that we deter people from breaking traffic rules. This fines could be used as a good source of revenue for the city or county Government that can help give incentives to officers who work hard. Our officers need adequate transportation. We need to have people being able to call police and expect them on scene in less than 10 mins on average. Always having police services within 5 mins drive in every neighborhood is great for security. This will help in reducing crime in our country.