Pedestrians will find road crossings to be more convenient and time-saving in phases this year with a facelift for some of the city's intersections, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said.

Writing on her blog, she said her department was following up on its move to create diagonal crossings at at two intersections in Tsim Sha Tsui and Sha Tin with a gradual implementation of the system at 15 more suitable junctions across the city this year.

The authorities, Chan stressed, will have to strike a balance between pedestrian and vehicle flows, given that the duration of the green signal of pedestrian traffic lights need to be extended.

She expects residents will take 30 percent less time on the average using the new diagonal crossing system.

Another change will see the implementation of real-time adaptive traffic signal system expanded to around 50 suitable junctions, including those located in new development areas.

Chan pointed out that trial results showed the system had reduced the average waiting time by five to 10 percent.

The Transport and Logistic Bureau will look into the traffic management platform this year, which, Chan said, takes reference from the Smart Traffic Management System in operation in San Po Kong and Kwun Tong in making use of big data and artificial intelligence to predict traffic changes and formulate contingency plans when it comes to adverse weather conditions and emergencies and keeping the public informed.

On the ongoing cross-district autonomous vehicle trial in Kowloon East, which is the first such pilot project in Hong Kong, Chan said the scheme's automobiles had run up around 1,700 kilometres in test runs as of January.