Motorists heading towards the Parama flyover from the AJC Bose Road flyover between midnight and 5.30am will be diverted towards the Seven Point at Park Circus to facilitate repairs on the stretch, police said. The block will last a fortnight, starting Wednesday night.
The 300-metre stretch begins from a point adjacent to where an arm of the AJC Bose Road flyover takes a left turn for Sealdah-bound vehicles and runs into the EM Bypass-bound flank of the Parama flyover over the Seven Point rotary in Park Circus.
“Every monsoon, this stretch, which links the two flyovers, develops potholes and slows down the movement of vehicles. The road surface condition has remained bad for some time. We had appealed to the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) for a complete overhaul, and it will now begin,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
The KMDA, which maintains the Parama flyover and its two ramps, has decided to relay the stretch with mastic asphalt to ensure durability and eliminate intermittent repairs after every monsoon, thereby reducing maintenance costs.
“A milling machine will be used to scrape off the existing layer of bitumen from the stretch of the road, which links the two flyovers. We will then lay it with stone mastic asphalt,” a senior KMDA engineer said.
“Stone mastic asphalt is ideal for heavily trafficked roads. While the initial cost is higher compared to normal relaying with bitumen, the durability and low maintenance lead to long-term cost savings,” he said.
Senior officers of Kolkata Police who man traffic on the two flyovers said motorists have to slow down on this link because the width is less than that of the two flanks of AJC Bose and Parama flyovers that bring vehicles to EM Bypass, due to a bend. A battered road top marked with potholes often leads vehicles to slow down even further, leading to a pileup during peak traffic hours.
The 7.5km-long Parama flyover, which connects EM Bypass with the AJC Bose Road flyover, has undergone several structural changes since its inauguration in 2015. Four years later, when it was linked to the AJC Bose Road flyover, traffic volume increased manifold.
Senior police officers said uninterrupted movement from one end to another, without having to stop at any signal post, has been the biggest draw for motorists.
“Over 150 vehicles reach the crossing of Race Course Road and AJC Bose Road after descending from the flyover every minute,” a senior officer, handling traffic, said.
Other officers said the state government’s decision last December to lift the ban on two-wheelers accessing flyovers between 10pm and 6am has made it even more challenging for them to reduce accidents.
“The official speed limit for two-wheelers on the flyover is 40kmph. However, during late nights and early mornings, two-wheeler drivers tend to overspeed, and the curved portions remain dangerous for them,” the officer said.
“Repairing this link between the two flyovers remains very vital,” the officer added.