This unwelcome situation may become a thing of the past in Shanghai as the city traffic authority is planning to install "electronic traffic information boards" at the 10-plus entrances and exits on the Yan'an Road Elevated Highway by year's end.

"These boards are expected to provide drivers accurate and instant traffic information beforehand," said Qian Jianguo of the Shanghai Municipal Urban Engineering Administration which is in charge of the installment.

While the 15-kilometer Yan'an elevated road will be part of the pilot project, the city will eventually install the electronic traffic boards on its existing 72 kilometers of elevated road as well as future elevated roads, he added.

No cost figures were provided.

The cable-connected "information boards," to be grouped as large, medium-sized and small according to their functions, will display traffic information given by a traffic monitoring center on electronic screens.

The center will depend on traffic monitors and pre-buried "sensory loops" to collect information, including road accidents and jams, and provide the information for the boards.

The first large board, which will be raised near the Loushanguan Road entrance to the elevated highway, will reveal the traffic situation at key sites - including the Yan'an Road W elevated intersection, the Yangpu Bridge and Yan'an Road E Tunnel - by displaying the information in various colors, such as "smooth" in green, "crowded" in yellow, and "very crowded" in red. The colors are meant to help drivers who can not read the information in Chinese.

The medium-sized board, which will tell drivers about the traffic situation ahead and how long it will take to reach certain places, will be raised some 800 to 1,200 meters ahead of the exits on the elevated roads so that a driver can decide where to get off the road.

And the small board will be raised on the ground close to elevated road entrances, telling drivers whether the nearest entry points are closed, open or under traffic control.

Huang Jinyuan, a vice chief engineer of Shanghai Urban Construction Design & Research Institute, said: "The information boards have already been tried in many developed countries and will be a big help in relieving traffic jams."

The number of vehicles on city roads reached 1.4 million last year and is expected to touch 2.5 to 3 million by 2010 when the World Expo is held in the city.

(eastday.com May 14, 2003)