Tbilisi to introduce Yellow Box road markings to ease congestion, Kaladze says

Tbilisi City Hall plans to introduce grid-style markings at city intersections, the so-called Yellow Box. It is intended to help reduce congestion and prevent cars from blocking intersections. Mayor Kakha Kaladze announced this at a meeting of the capital's government.

On Kaladze's order, the Tbilisi Transport and Urban Development Agency will begin work on introducing the new system together with the Georgian Interior Ministry.

The mayor explained how the problem arises: a driver enters an intersection on a green light but, due to heavy traffic, cannot drive further. As a result, the car blocks the intersection and hinders traffic in other directions.

"International practice has shown that grid-style road markings — the so-called Yellow Box — work very well at intersections," Kaladze said.

According to him, this method is widely used in countries where traffic volumes at transport hubs are high and regulation by traffic lights alone is insufficient.

Kaladze noted that Georgian legislation already prohibits a driver from entering an intersection even on a green light if they expect to be forced to stop and create an obstacle to traffic. At the same time, according to the mayor, enforcing this requirement is difficult.

Separately, the mayor of Tbilisi pointed to a significant increase in the number of cars in the city. If before 2012 around 180,000 private cars moved through Tbilisi, today at peak hours their number reaches 900,000.

"This is a very big problem and a serious challenge," Kaladze said.

He added that a number of projects are already being implemented to ease traffic in the capital, including the introduction of "smart" traffic lights, improvements to problem sections and the creation of a network of Yellow Box road squares.

Source: sputnik-georgia.ru

Prepared by:Gurban Gurbanzadeh