KOLKATA: The four-day trial run of the new traffic diversion plan at the Abhishikta crossing in order to allow construction work of the ongoing New Garia-Airport Metro project will begin at 9am from Monday, the Kolkata traffic police sources said on Tuesday.
The Purba Jadavpur traffic guard will be carrying out the trials only for the south-bound carriageway (moving towards Garia) for now. The vehicles will be asked to use the new culvert, which has been created by KMDA for this purpose.
The initial blockade will take place closer to the Kalikapur bridge and away from the main crossing. “Vehicles will be using the newly constructed culvert road while moving from Ruby to Garia on the EM Bypass. Those using the Anwar Shah Connector, will use the same culvert after taking a right turn from the connector,” said an officer. For this purpose, extra men will be deployed at the crossing, Lalbazar sources said.
Cops said the real test were for vehicles from Prince Anwar Shah Bypass Connector that would merge with traffic coming from Ruby. “The evening traffic movement reports will be crucial as that time of the day witnesses maximum traffic. This crossing is known for witnessing jams in the evening. Based on our findings, we will begin planning ahead for the actual concentration. The timing of the traffic signals will be crucial since we have the busy Ruby Crossing ahead,” explained a source. Sources said KMDA had proposed to begin the trial run as early as last Thursday. “But we wanted to study the traffic volume on all four working days and thus took a traffic blockade,” said cops. The plan had been in place since the third week of December last year.
After trials, officials will send their report to the office of DC (traffic). Senior officer led by joint CP (traffic) Santosh Pandey and DC (traffic) Rupesh Kumar, is likely to visit the spot before giving the final go ahead to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to begin constructions once the report is finalized.
“With the KMDA asking for a blockade at Ambedkar Bridge on the Bypass near Science City, where they will carry out load tests, we will have to look into various pros and cons before we go ahead with the final go ahead. Bypass is one of the nerve centres of the city and thus has to keep moving 24 hours of the day,” said an officer.
“As it will be a block worth several months, the planning will also include movement of vehicles on the bylanes adjoining the Bypass. Meanwhile, a plan for adequate U-turns at both Ruby and Ajoynagar is being readied to prepare for the full block of Ajoy Nagar crossing that will eventually take place with RVNL asking for a full blockade of the crossing in due course of time,” explained an officer. Rs.45.91 lakhs were earlier handed over by RVNL to KMDA to widen the road by creating two culverts close to Abhishika crossing for traffic diversion.