Chelmsford: Electronic jambuster

The news follows the appointment of the county's new traffic tsar Brian Goodwin this week.

Two projects, exclusively revealed by the Essex Chronicle last year, are set to come together under the scheme starting with the March opening of a hi-tech operations centre in County Hall to oversee rush-hour traffic.

The first of four satellite park and ride schemes aimed at further reducing traffic jams in Chelmsford is also expected to be given the go-ahead.

The park and ride schemes will cost around £2 million.

Plans initially are for a site on the A414 near Baddow by-pass and over three years it is hoped to develop sites at Broomfield, Writtle and Springfield.

Solar panels to power nine census points, each costing £6,000, for the electronic traffic jambuster, have been put up across the town and will be switched on in March.

Political head of highways at Essex County Council Cllr Rodney Bass, who told the Chronicle about the scheme last autumn, says the new system will start off in a fairly "rudimentary way"

'Green' solar-powered 'loop' detectors in the road surface will measure the volume and speed of traffic in critical routes into the county town and relay them to the Duke Street centre

The aim is for this equipment to be backed-up by real time CCTV focusing on the worst traffic black spots.

Tactical road closures and diversions can then be made to clear problems more easily, and radio, TV and websites will be informed of potential problems.

"We are ahead of the game through local foresight and are ready with projects that are already in the transport white paper just published," said Cllr Bass

A county spokeswoman added: "The aim is to do something about congestion, initially in Chelmsford but the scheme will eventually be rolled out over the whole county during the next financial year."

Published Monday January 19, 2004

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