The smart crosswalk Photo: West Lake Construction Investment Group
By Yang Nan
Some crosses in downtown Hangzhou are illuminated and vocalized. A glance at the one on West Wensan Road may give you some ideas of how they look like.
Here, the upgrading of a 6.2 kilometers long road between Zijingang Road and Moganshan Road is ongoing. A block installed with smart crosswalks, bus stops, streetlights, and so on is being built.
The ground lights are embedded on both ends of the zebra lines, glowing in sync with the traffic lights at night. To be more specific, when the traffic light is green, the ground lights glow in green to remind the pedestrians to walk across; when it turns red, the zebra lines turn red with a vocal reminder warning the pedestrians and drivers to be mindful of each other at the meantime.
The bus stops along the road are also renovated. While waiting for the buses, passengers can check the speed, location, crowdedness of the next bus and check the weather broadcast and news on the electronic screens which have replaced the previous bus stop signs. WiFi is also available at the bus stops.
Moreover, 130 smart multifunctional streetlights are to be installed on the roadside. They will control automatically the street lights, emergency calls, video monitoring, LED display, air quality assessment, Wi-Fi service, and so on.
According to the authorities, the whole Wensan Road is to be rebuilt into a smart road.