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National freeway bureau working on new traffic system

The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau said yesterday it is spending NT$5 billion (US$152 million) to construct a traffic management system incorporating traffic information from all the nation's freeways and 12 east-west expressways.

Meanwhile, traffic information inside all of the major tunnels, such as the Hsuehshan and Baguashan (八卦山) tunnels, will also be available through the system.

The construction is scheduled to be completed by 2010, the bureau said.

Kang Jhy-fu (康志福), deputy director of the bureau's traffic management department, said yesterday that NT$3.5 billion of the construction fund will be contributed by the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) and the bureau's national freeway fund would pay for the rest.

"The system for the 12 expressways was supposed to be built entirely by DGH, which was part of Challenge 2008 National Development Plan," Kang explained, "but the Executive Yuan later decided that the bureau would be in charge of finishing the rest of construction."

Kang added that the NT$5 billion project will help establish a new traffic control center in central Taiwan.

It also enables the bureau to renovate its facilities in traffic control centers.

When asked if this meant that motorists would need to pay to drive on these 12 expressways, the bureau's Director-General Lee Tai-ming (李泰明) said the issue will be discussed next year along with potential changes to the current toll-collection system.

"Factors to consider include whether the bureau will be in charge of maintaining the system and how motorists would be charged," Kang said.

The project allows the bureau to get rid of old traffic control devices that have been in use for more than 10 years.

"Not only can it [the system] monitor the traffic, it can also predict the volume of traffic based on data collected in the past," Kang said.

While the information will be available to the general public free of charge, Lee said value-added services may be available for a fee.
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