CASE Traffic Signal Automation

🤖 AI-generated summary of the sources below · 🔎 Last verified 2026-08-07

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

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Dhaka's World Bank-funded CASE project installed automated signal lights at 29 intersections between 2012 and 2023 for around Tk112 crore, but the systems went largely unused as police kept directing traffic by hand. A successor semi-automatic system — funded by the two city corporations and engineered by BUET — went live at seven intersections on 30 August 2025.

Cancelled 📅 2012–2023

Outcome🪦 Failed

Evidence📰 Media

what does this mean?

The strongest source is press reporting; no primary evaluation was located. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →

Run byNational government

Scale🏙️ City-wide

Cost≈Tk112 crore

FundingWorld Bank (CASE)

📊 Impact

The automated signals at 29 intersections went largely unused, with police continuing to direct traffic by hand.

🎓 Lesson

Hardware alone doesn't fix traffic: without operator training, maintenance budgets, and integration with existing police practice, automated signals get switched off and traffic reverts to manual control.

🚲 Mobility Traffic management

Sources

↗ World Bank — CASE Project completion report (authority)World Bank document for the ~$62M CASE project (closed 2019) that funded the Dhaka traffic-signal component.

↗ The Daily Star (press)Documents the CASE automated signals being non-functional and police directing traffic manually.

↗ New Age (press)Reports the 29 CASE signals and repeated failed automation projects; police handle signals by hand.

↗ The Business Standard (press)Detailed accounting of Dhaka's failed tech traffic fixes including the CASE 29 intersections / Tk112 crore figure.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇨🇳 City Brain · Hangzhou Hangzhou's AI retimed a megacity's signals from 2016; Dhaka's automated lights went unused, traffic reverting to manual police control. 🇺🇸 Surtrac AI Traffic Signals · Pittsburgh Pittsburgh's AI signals scaled from 2012 and still run; Dhaka's automated lights sat unused, traffic reverting to manual police control. 🇩🇿 Algiers Intelligent Traffic Management · Algiers Same install-but-never-operate story in Algiers, where a security veto on the cameras — not police habit — kept the smart signals off.

Explore the wider context

🚦 Asphalt or algorithms 🚦 Traffic management guide 🏙️ Dhaka city profile 🚲 Mobility projects 📖 Adaptive traffic signals 📖 ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition)📖 Automated speed enforcement (speed cameras)

📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “CASE Traffic Signal Automation” — Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/dhaka-traffic-control/ (last verified 2026-08-07). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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