Tech a drive down the Bandra-Worli Sea Link

The 4.6km Bandra-Worli Sea Link will be the first project in the state to have an advanced traffic management system. From emergency call boxes to CCTV cameras, from meteorological sensors to road sensors, the sea link will sport a gadget-savvy look when it is opened.

The toll plaza on the sea link will also have a hi-tech look. According to Sheetal Shanbhag, head of sales and marketing at Efkon India, the company that has designed the hardware and software systems for the country's first sea link, the 16-lane toll plaza will have a dedicated lane for on-board unit (OBU) pass holders.

"Out of the eight lanes on each side, one of the lanes will be exclusively for pass holders," Shanbhag told DNA. "On this lane, there will be a barrier and trans-receiver 72 metres before the actual toll plaza. Once the OBU is detected by the trans-receiver, the vehicle will get access to the plaza. We are assuming that pass holders will not take more than two to three seconds to pass through the plaza."

Shanbhag said motorists with smart cards will have to show them to the sensors at the toll plaza. "They will pass within six to seven seconds. Even those paying cash are expected to pass through in 10 to 12 seconds," she said.

If any pass has expired, the vehicle will be automatically halted at the toll plaza and the motorist will have to pay manually, she added.

According to Efkon, which installed such a system on the Jaipur-Kishangadh expressway in April 2005 and on the second Vivekanand toll bridge on the Hooghly river in Kolkata, the sea link has been wired using fibre optic cables.

"The cables have been installed on the crash barriers of the sea link," Shanbhag said. "Through the fibre optic network, the system will monitor visibility on the bridge during the monsoon and road temperature in summer. This information will then be provided to traffic authorities as well as motorists through neon signs on the bridge."

Corrections, June 29, 2009: The spelling of 'sensors' throughout the copy has been rectified. The name of the river that flows through Kolkata was earlier wrongly spelt as Hubli.