After a gap of five years, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and procedural delays, counting of vehicles has been taken up by the State Highways Department on key stretches, bridges and intersections in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts.
The week-long exercise, officials say, is aimed at studying traffic patterns and making improvements to the roads maintained by the Highways Department. As per norms, such a study should be done once in three years to assess the traffic flow on key routes and intersections as the number of vehicles would have increased substantially.
“The counting is done round the clock by workers in rotation. Such an exercise helps government agencies, including the traffic police, to regulate flow of vehicles at key intersections in the fort town smoothly,” said Saravanan, Divisional Engineer, Highways Department, Vellore.
The count is done manually by young workforce hired by the Highways Department. On an average, three persons will be engaged in the work on each stretch. A team member will record the types of vehicles — cars, buses, lorries, trucks, two-wheelers and autorickshaws. In Vellore district alone, more than 140 stretches, covering 1,060 km, have been identified for the purpose. Teams in Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts have also been doing the exercise. Together, around 430 stretches that are maintained by the Department are being covered in these districts.
