Long-pending road widening works in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur add to woes of commuters

GUNTUR: Long-pending road widening works in the city have made commuting hard for denizens in Guntur. According to the 2011 Census, the city has a population of over 6 lakh and it is expected to increase up to 9.5 lakh. The number of vehicles has increased to 6.3 lakh.

Along with this, the pending road extension works, and construction of RUBs) and ROBs at proposed sites were adding to the troubles of commuters. Adding to this, uncompleted underground drainage works have left several roads in worse condition.

Commuters are facing severe traffic jams, especially at Syamala Nagar and Nehru Nagar railway gate. Rama Rao, a resident of AT Agraharam said, "When the railway gate is closed, it leads to traffic jams up to 1 km and it takes at least 20 to 25 minutes to clear it. The situation gets worse during 8 am to 10 am and 5 pm to 8 pm, when all school buses and lorries pass through the road."

The situation is not much different at Arundalpet ROB, which connects East Guntur and West Guntur.

"Traffic police along with GMC were taking measures to regulate the traffic. Recently, traffic police personnel were posted at Syamala Nagar gate to regulate the traffic. New traffic signals were being set up at key junctions. Parking zones were being set  up at various locations to ease the traffic" said Traffic DSP Raman Kumar.

The construction of the proposed RUBs and ROBs also picked up pace after the NHAI officials visited the areas, recently.