Curb on ‘u-turns’ to de-congest traffic

Traffic officials have decided to close down a few of the changeovers across the City to decongest traffic.

Traffic jams have increased in the recent times due to several reasons. The stretch between Rasulgarh and Kalpana squares has many small and big changeovers. “If one vehicle is taking a turn at any of these changeovers, the rest of the vehicles have to wait for at least five minutes, which results in traffic jams. We have decided to close a few of the changeovers to reduce traffic jams,” Traffic ACP Binod Dash said.

Even the width of road on this stretch has shrunk considerably due to encroachment by small vendors. Though traffic and BMC officials undertake eviction drives, the shops continue to spring up.

Another major reason for traffic jams is construction of flyover from Rasulgarh Square to Acharya Vihar. With the roads narrowing down, traffic jams extend the travel time on this stretch by up to 30 minutes.

Rasulgarh Square connects traffic to four directions, but in a haphazard manner. The major traffic on this route comes from Cuttack and Kalpana Road, besides a thin flow from Mancheswar.

The traffic officials are not always able to handle these uneven flow, resulting in major jams.

“Additional traffic personnel have been appointed at Rasulgarh Square to tackle the jams. Even the auto stand at the square has been shifted to ensure smooth flow of traffic, but minor hitches will continue till the construction of flyover is over,” Dash said.

As a temporary arrangement, a separate route is being chalked out to manage the traffic between Rasulgarh Square and Cuttack during night.

“Many tourist buses ply on this route between 7 pm and 9 pm. A separate route will help lessen the burden on traffic officials,” Dash added.