A road revamp plan is being chalked out to supplement the Rs 2,000-crore modernisation of Calcutta airport, which took off in January.

“Post-upgrade, there will be a significant increase in the passenger-handling capacity of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, triggering a four-fold jump in traffic. A plan has to be worked out to ensure smooth flow of vehicles to and from the airport,” said S.P.S. Bakshi, the project director in charge of airport modernisation.

The road revamp scheme is being drawn up by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Once finalised, the proposal will be placed before the state transport department.

“We are calculating the project cost and will hold talks with transport department officials after that,” said Bakshi, a former chief general manager of the National Highways Authority of India.

“We will look into the proposal and work on it,” said transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury.

As part of the revamp, the AAI will propose an elevated corridor from Belghoria Expressway to the VIP Road-Rajarhat New Town Road crossing, with an interchange for an independent access to the airport. The access road, too, will be elevated to ensure that vehicles to and from the airport are not caught in snarls.

“The Jessore Road-VIP Road stretch between Belghoria Expressway and the airport connector is narrow and always in the grip of snarls. The elevated corridor will help ease the congestion,” said an official.

On the new link, Bakshi said: “There is a vacant plot near the Rajarhat New Town Road and VIP Road crossing. The interchange can be built there and joined with the extended Belghoria Expressway.”

A second plan is to build a flyover from the crossing of VIP Road and the airport connector to the new terminal building. “The building will have its arrival terminal on the first floor and departure terminal on the ground floor. The flyover will be aligned with the arrival terminal,” the official said.

The AAI will also propose the setting up of underpasses and overpasses at the VIP Road-airport connector crossing and extension of the North-South corridor till the New Town crossing.

The transport department, on its part, is planning a four-lane flyover from Chitpur to the Lake Town-VIP Road crossing. “Vehicles from the south will have an easier access to the airport through the flyover,” the official added.

“Since the airport is being upgraded to global standards, the access roads, too, need to be world class,” asserted Bakshi.

Around 6,000 vehicles — private cars and taxis — now come to the airport daily. After the modernisation, the figure is likely to be 24,000.

The annual passenger handling capacity of the two terminals is six million. Once the integrated terminal building becomes operational, it will jump to 20 million.

“The Jessore Road-VIP Road crossing cannot cope with the present traffic load. Vehicles hardly move during peak hours. The situation will get out of hand after the modernisation if the road capacity is not increased,” said an official. The Air Traffic Controllers’ Guild has written to the transport department, seeking a solution.