Permanent median divider plan for Kolkata's Sealdah flyover

KOLKATA: City traffic police, which had set up median dividers on an experimental basis on the Sealdah flyover to stop overtaking from opposite flanks and cut down on jaywalking, has now decided to make it a permanent road furniture.

"The bridge has witnessed a spate of accidents, in most cases jaywalkers were hit by heavy vehicles. Hence, it is important we secure the bridge as much as any other road," said a top official at Lalbazar.
Police officers said the setting up of a median divider is likely to stop buses and other vehicles headed towards College Street from Rajabazar from jumping flanks. It will, most importantly, stop pedestrians from illegally trying to cross over the bridge. Multiple accidents took place last year owing to this tendency, said a police officer.
Traffic police has also proposed setting up of LED light-driven signals on the road surface on both approaches of Sealdah flyover provided the WBTC allows them to use the tram tracks. This will be one of the 40 new proposed spots where such surface signals are likely to come up in the coming months. The College Street-Sealdah flyover crossing - several motorists have alleged - is a blind spot and no signals are easily visible to either pedestrians or motorists.
The decisions come in the wake of the second fatal accident on Sealdah flyover in January. The first accident - immediately after Durga Puja last year - had resulted in three deaths. Almost 40% of the 185 fatal accident deaths in 2022 in Kolkata we-re pedestrians.
"In this case, besides adding any new technology, we need to stop late night and morning jaywalkers crossing from Sealdah station to NRS Hospital and vice versa. Instead, we must use all techniques to make them use the subway. The ground signals will act as an additional radar for motorists," said an ACP.
To ensure smooth pedestrian flow, police are keen on diverting those emerging from the Main section of the station through the Baithakkhana Bazar route and those from the South section through the road next to BR Singh Hospital.