The Shyambazar five-point crossing, amongst the busiest in the city, is plagued by a number of problems, the foremost being apathy for road rules. Accidents are common near the intersection. Metro draws up a list of reasons behind traffic chaos at the crossroad...

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Showpiece bays

Buses on numerous routes ply through the Shyambazar crossing, breaking traffic rules at will.

“The private buses are always racing. They weave in and out of the bus bays through gaps in the guard rails,” said Hari Das, the owner of a roadside shop near the Shyambazar Metro station.

A speeding bus hit a middle-aged woman outside his shop recently,

Often, only the buses that will turn left take the bay, said a police officer manning the Shyampukur police station kiosk near the crossing.

In the evening, a portion of the bus bay on Bhupen Bose Avenue is used as a taxi stand.

Market spillover

There is an illegal extension of Shyambazar Market on the pavement along RG Kar Road. The hawkers squat on both sides of the pavement while their customers occupy the space in between.

A Calcutta Municipal Corporation vat near the bus stop adds to the pedestrians’ woes.

Footpath hurdle

Many of the footpaths that are not blocked by vendors are unfit for use.

“Bricks with sharp edges jut out from the footpaths near the crossing. I stopped using the footpaths after suffering several cuts and bruises,” said student Debanjana Dasgupta.

Missing guard rails

While the rods of the guard rails on Bidhan Sarani have been removed, the guard rails themselves have been uprooted on BT Road. As a result, pedestrians dodge moving traffic to cross the thoroughfare, leading to accidents.

Traffic light trauma

“It takes me 20 minutes at any point of the day to cover the 1.5 km from Chiria More to Shyambazar as there are as many as seven traffic signals on the stretch — Cossipore, Paikpara, Chitpur, RG Kar, Ghalib Street, Bagbazar and Shyambazar,” said a daily commuter.

The traffic lights for vehicles near the rotary were operational but those for pedestrians did not work, like in many other intersections across the city.

Pedestrian apathy

“Pedestrians are equally to blame for the chaos,” said a sergeant of Shyambazar traffic guard, pointing to people waiting for buses on BT Road right below a sign that read: “Ekhane bus thamibe na (Buses not to stop here).”

Traffic stoppers

The police pointed out two other factors that slow down traffic at Shyambazar — goods carriages that clog RG Kar Road after leaving their Canal West Road depot and tram tracks on RG Kar Road, Bidhan Sarani and APC Road that have made the thoroughfares uneven.

Flyover failure

“The Lockgate flyover is open to south-bound traffic between 6am and noon and to north-bound traffic thereafter. If the flyover was wider and capable of supporting two-way traffic throughout the day, vehicular pressure on the Shyambazar crossing would have lessened. Vehicles could have reached Central Avenue from BT Road and vice versa without going through the Shyambazar crossing,” said a traffic sergeant at the intersection.

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Mayor’s version: “I held a meeting with city police on Tuesday. It was decided that hawkers and vendors who have occupied more than one-third of the width of a footpath will be removed,” mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya told Metro.