Unlocking the Gridlock

It is a turnpike that lets you zip zap zoom between two bordering citiesone,
the kernel to Indian IT, Gurgaon, and the other a national capital that won
itself the prized-place as the host of the Commonwealth Games, New Delhi. In
such august company, the stakes were high for the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, and
so were the efforts and money pouring into it. After a string of delays, traffic
bottlenecks during the course of construction, and with the aim of reducing the
60,000-odd daily commuters travel time between south Delhi and Gurgaon from an
hour and a half to half hour, the Expressway was fully functional and opened to
public by January, only to hit some roadblocks.

One of the most prominent projects of NHDP, the 27.7-km stretch on the Delhi-Jaipur
National Highway-8 has been constructed on a build, operate, and transfer (BOT)
basis at a negative grant of Rs 61 crore, which is a first in India. Part of the
former NDA governments ambitious Golden Quadrilateral, apart from addressing
the increasing traffic problems between Delhi and Gurgaon, the reach and impact
of the project once completed was even more, considering that the international
and national airports fall on the route. And with the Commonwealth Games on its
way, the opportunity for Delhi and NCR to show its infrastructure prowess was
not a mere coincidence.

The Road Mess

Soon after the tollgates were opened for collection, DS Constructions(DSC)
found itself in the middle of a mess. Commuters had to wait for as long as 30-45
minutes to get through the toll collection counter, and unfamiliarity with the
lanes and options available for drivers led to the build up of unruly traffic
near the toll plaza. The company realized that very few commuters were using the
tags while most did not even know about it, and people needed to be guided to
the right lane. It went into an aggressive marketing drive, advertising in
national dailies, across lampposts on the newly constructed stretch, and around
the toll plaza to encourage drivers to buy tags, and simultaneously deployed a
fleet of marshals on the toll plaza to guide vehicles into the correct lane.

In the first few weeks of the operations, most commuters on the toll plaza
were using the cash lanes which resulted in long waiting period at the plaza. As
a result of the focused initiatives undertaken by the company like waving
security deposit on Smart Tag, offering 50% discount on toll rates to daily
commuters on Smart Tag, today 50% commuters use the Smart Tag to pay toll. This
has drastically reduced the wait time at the cash lanes to 5-7 minutes, even in
the peak hours, which is in compliance with international standards, Manhad
Narula, director, DS Constructions. Door-to-door delivery and SMSes have been
introduced to encourage more tag users.

Also, the lack of road discipline of commuters added to the chaos. We have
deputed marshals to ensure that commuters stick to their lanes. The lanes have
been segregated and proper signage deployed across the plaza. However, despite
all these measures, we do have stray instances when vehicles without tag enter
the tag lanes. Consumer discipline can be the only answer to this problem, adds
Narula. Presently, 200 cars per hour are being processed in cash lanes (18
seconds per car). The situation is much better than what it was three months
ago.

Ahead with Technology

Approximately 5-7 lakh vehicles on an average are using the expressway,
developed by a consortium led by DSC, daily. However, only 1.2 lakh vehicles are
paying the toll, making this stretch the most populace highway in India. And to
ensure that the traffic moves smoothly on this stretch, state-of-the-art
technology has been used in design and function of the expressway.

The underground tunnel below the tollgate

The toll plaza, overlooking the 32-lane collection points, called Kilometer
24, houses more than a point of sale and customer service desk. The plaza acts a
centralized data center where information on every vehicle crossing three toll
plazasthe Indira Gandhi International Airport, the 32-lane tollgate at the
Delhi-Gurgaon border, and another near Manesaris collected via fiber options.
The data is assimilated, stored, and processed as per the requirement, mainly
for verification of vehicles, updating tag users record, or when required at
the point of sales. Different departments have been assigned these tasks within
the plaza. There is also a traffic controller, who ensures smooth flow of
traffic in all the lanes.

Toll-booths have height sensors, powered by infra-red rays, to record the
height of a vehicle, treadles to identify heavy vehicles, and cameras that
capture the license plate number and the face of the driver as soon as it pulls
up to pay toll. The computers in all the booths are linked to an underground
motherboard, which also has power back-up. So, in case a system fails, or
electricity lines snap, the motherboard springs into action without any downtime
or information loss. There is even a mini-bank in the basement that replenishes
cash in different denominations if a toll collector requires it. After the shift
ends, toll collectors use the underground tunnel to record their total
collection on an allotted system that boots only after entering two different
sets of passwords.

Inside the Kilometer 24 toll plaza

Spending the last three years in India implementing the project, Duncan
Hornby, DCM, Tolling, DS Constructions, says that after a number of successful
projects in South Africa, this was a challenge. The number of cars was huge, and
the concept relatively new for drivers. We have used different scheme of colors
for different lanes, people who guide vehicles to the right lane and enough
signage. Technologically, the toll plaza is very advanced. But, most
importantly, it is about processes. There is a process for every thing, even if
it is taking cash for collectors, says Hornby.

The toll collection points on the tollgate work on RFID-enabled tags. With
the prices of tags reducing manifold, availability of technology and hardware
providers, and easy implementation of the readers or transponders, tags are the
best bet for any such project to be a success. The major components of an
electronic tolling system like on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway are automated
vehicle identification, automated vehicle classification, transaction
processing, and violation enforcement.

The two middle lanes out of the 32 are reversible, which means, depending on
the vehicle velocity on any of the side, especially during peak traffic hours,
the number of lanes could be increased from 12 to 13, or even 14.

DS Constructions, NHAI, and the people behind the planning process have
undoubtedly put on use the best of what technologies offer. In the Delhi-Gurgaon
Expressway tollgate, technology was both the precaution and the remedy.
Precaution for the preparedness of the entire tollgate to accommodate the huge
influx of traffic in the region and remedy for it brought a crisis-like
situation under much-visible control. But what technology cannot do is replace
human planning. More awareness about the tags, flexible schemes and plans, and
an early start at making the traffic-goers aware of the ways of the system would
have averted the uncanny and unexpected situation initially.

The planning and execution of the recent and upcoming projects, especially
when it comes to infrastructure development like roads and highways, reflect
that India is not footslogging on the road to development. Meeting the
gargantuan infrastructure needs of a country growing both healthy and wealthy
can only be met if technology is an essential substructure of development. And
if you are on your way to Gurgaon, the town synonymous with Indias
technological fervor, then the road leading to it will tell you that we have
arrived!

Shikha Das

shikhad@cybermedia.co.in