Traffic lights make a comeback in Chattogram

The Traffic Division of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) is going to replace hand gestures and whistle with traffic signal lights in the city. 

Initially, the division had started controlling traffic with signal lights at the Sheikh Mujib Road in Agrabad, Chattogram. 

"Gradually, traffic in the whole city will be controlled by traffic lights, said Md Amir Jafar," deputy police commissioner (Traffic-North) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police. 

He said, "There is no alternative to traffic lights to ensure a modern traffic system. This will require less manpower and bring order to the movement of vehicles."

Public transport experts said that reactivating the traffic lights might bring order in vehicular movement, but may not remain effective for long. 

Suvash Chandra Barua, an engineer and public transport expert, told The Business Standard, "A few years ago, the Traffic Division took a similar initiative. They spent money to set up traffic lights, but those became useless after a while. Now traffic lights have to be installed after designing a new plan, because the number of cars has increased."

Chattogram City Corporation sources said they had spent around Tk2 crore from 2010 to 2015 to develop the city's traffic controlling system. But, the traffic lights set up at that time started malfunctioning within a short period of time. 

Deputy Police Commissioner Md Amir Jafar said, "We are now trying to control traffic at the most important and busiest intersections by through traffic lights. In the future, automatic traffic lights will be set up at every intersection. This requires counting the number of vehicles passing through every intersection and creating a new plan based on that. This will take time.

"The traffic in the city has been controlled by hand gestures and whistles for the last seven to eight years. Traffic police at the busiest intersections in the city are facing problems in controlling traffic this way," he added.

Sources at the Chattogram police's Traffic Division said, there are traffic lights at 40 intersections in the city. Those lights were functioning during the 1990s, but stopped working over time. 

Fakhrul Islam, deputy assistant engineer of the Chattogram City Corporation, said, "In the first phase, we will install signal lights at the intersections from Cement Crossing to Sholoshahar Gate-2.

"So far, the work to set up signal lights at Barik Building, Badamtoli, Chowmohuni, Tiger Pass, Wasa and Sholoshahar Get-2 intersections has been completed," he added.