Surat: Over the past two decades there has been a significant increase in population of one of the fasted growing cities of the world, but the infrastructural developed by the civic body does not commensurate with the human growth.
One of the major hurdles that a commuter faces in the Diamond City today is the frequent traffic jams while crossing river Tapi that divides the city. Though there are five bridges over the river, they are not enough to cater to the rising vehicular traffic.
Over the years, the spread of population on other side of the river has put pressure on city’s infrastructure. The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has built roads, but not constructed new bridges connecting the newly developed areas like Pal and Adajan with the old city. As a result when it comes to crossing the river to the old city people living in new areas of West Zone are left with choice of on three bridges — Sardar bridge, Makkai Pul bridge and Rander bridge.
According to 2011 census, West zone had population of 4.58 lakh and with average annual growth rate of 7% it would have risen to 7 lakh in 2018. Similarly, number of vehicles have gone up to at least 3 lakh.
One of the major reasons for regular traffic jams, especially during peak hours, on both sides of the river is the unplanned approaches to the bridges. “Main roads parallel to the river Tapi are very near to the bank. This doesn’t allow much space for the traffic to get distributed and as a result vehicles converge at one spot as soon as four-lane bridge gets over,” said a senior engineer from SMC. “Many times we see traffic moving smoothly on the bridges but as it nears the exit there is jam waiting,” he added.
Experts said that lack of traffic channelization, behaviour are also responsible for the traffic troubles. Dr Rakesh Kumar Singh, an expert in urban transportation at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), said, “Local bodies should employ experts before planning of bridges and their distances. More so, to improve traffic behaviour signs play a big role and they must be properly marked and displayed. We need better traffic channelization and ensure that such channels are not broken.”
“Pressure on existing infrastructure is due to improper planning. Ideally, when the population was spreading between 2000 and 2010, new bridges should have been constructed which would have eased the traffic scenario. However, it was not done and as a result we are facing problems today where a person living in Pal has to come all the way to Sardar bridge to cross over to old city,” Singh said.
Another SMC official said, “People living in Pal or Adajan have to come to other side of the river to got to railway station, airport and even reach highways. Floating population of 2-3 lakh used the existing bridges everyday. So, there is need for more bridges with total load bearing capacity of at least 60,000 PCU (passenger car unit), to manage for another decade.”
