In a first of its kind in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to conduct vehicle counts on roads in the city before taking up any road infrastructure project. The civic body has decided to buy at least two vehicle-counting machines to start with and these will be installed on those particular roads which may require infrastructural changes.

SVR Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner said that these machines will be installed for a particular period on certain roads where the BMC plans to execute an improvement plan. The machines will help it know the traffic flow on these roads on an hourly basis, he added. He added that road re-designing ? widening, reconstruction, building a flyover, etc. ? will be largely influenced by traffic during peak hours.

For the BMC, the machines will cost around Rs 14 lakh to Rs 15 lakh a piece. Recently, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said to have used this machine.