Very soon, the vehicles heading towards Bengaluru on the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway and towards Chengalpattu on GST Road will be spared from the long serpentine queues at toll plazas.
Reducing Waiting Time To Zero
The development is owing to the fact that the existing toll booths will be dismantled, and toll collection will be carried out automatically through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras integrated with the FASTag system.
With these cameras, they will capture vehicle details even at speeds of 100-150kmph, enabling seamless and congestion-free travel.
Earlier, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) introduced the Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) user fee collection system which makes the use of ANPR cameras integrated with the FASTag platform.
The authorities will be implementing the system at Nemili (Sriperumbudur) and Chennasamudram toll plazas on the Chennai-Bengaluru NH and at the Paranur toll plaza on the Tambaram-Villupuram NH (GST Road).
Both these highways carry nearly 75,000 passenger car units daily as per Official data.
The new system will have existing toll booths dismantled and the overhead ANPR cameras will automatically capture vehicle registration numbers and deduct the corresponding toll amount from linked FASTag accounts.
This will definitely save a lot of time as it would enable vehicles to pass through toll points without stopping, effectively reducing waiting time to zero.
A Seamless Toll Deduction
This project is overseen by the Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) — an agency under the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, it is responsible for implementing electronic toll collection for NHAI rollout of the MLFF system.
In this regard, recently IHMCL floated tenders to appoint an operator responsible for designing, developing, operating and maintaining the system for a period of five years.
Moving ahead, this six-lane main carriageway will remain fully open to traffic, allowing seamless toll deduction as vehicles pass, said the official sources.
Further adding, “The project involves installation of key infrastructure and requires rigorous inspections. The system will be put into multi-level verification before it becomes operational.”
When it comes to the ANPR cameras, they will be capable of capturing vehicle number plates and video footage up to 40m away along with a five-second recording window as mentioned in the official documents.
These cameras are designed to accurately identify registration numbers even at speeds of up to 150kmph.
They will be installing adequate cameras to cover all lanes, including thr service lanes and earthen shoulders in order to make it more specific.
