Plans to set up Nairobi City's new traffic control system are on course with its design already completed.
The Integrated Traffic Management Centre (TMC) will be set up at a cost of Ksh1.9 billion with the aim of enhancing traffic management in the city.
According to the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) the centre will be located on a 10-acre parcel of land in the City Cabanas area on Mombasa Road.
The system which is set to ease traffic jams was unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta in November 2020.
The centre will be a three-in-one where the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system, the city commuter rail and road traffic will be controlled from.
The design of the centre will have all the traffic stakeholders in one building operating on several floors for better coordination of traffic.
The central command centre will house engineers, system specialists and traffic police officers who will monitor data being captured on the camera at road junctions through digital number plates embedded with microchips.
With the real-time data, the traffic marshalls will be able to allocate more time to more congested roads to ease snarl-ups.
With the construction set to commence, the first task KURA will undertake will be the setting up of 102 new road intersections.
President Kenyatta in 2020, disclosed that the Nairobi Metropolitan Services would converge the new system with the additional traffic lights as well as redesigning and signalizing 25 additional traffic intersections.
"The control centre will utilise traffic cameras and censors and harmonise location data to provide a synchronised signal at 100 new junctions in addition to the existing traffic lights,” he stated at the time.
The new traffic system will incorporate the Intelligent Transport System (ITS), which uses artificial intelligence to manage urban traffic.
The ITS has already been successfully piloted at several major junctions outside the city centre including on the Western Ring Road from Yaya Centre through to Kileleshwa Ring Road extending to Waiyaki Way.
This saw the removal of at least 100 roundabouts in the city. The ITS uses intelligent cameras, variable timing traffic lights and a control centre to observe and control traffic, thereby reducing the burden on traffic police officers.
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