The Bistupur main road, one of the accident-prone zones, in the city. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, April 24: What’s common between Bhuiyandih Road and Bistupur Main Road? Both have been identified as zones that are most prone to accidents.

And the two are not alone — five other places in the steel city have made it to the killer spot list in traffic surveys carried out by consultants appointed by Tata Steel.

The consultants — Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), L&T Ramboll and Consulting Engineering Services (CES) — identified the accident zones in order of severity. And they are Tata Steel’s Hot Strip Mill Gate, Bhuiyandih, Agrico light signal, TRF (Burmamines), Regal building in Bistupur, Kalimati Road and Tubes Division. On an average, four to five minor and fatal road mishaps take place at these spots in a week.

Vice-president (corporate services) of Tata Steel Sanjiv Paul had also referred to these accident-prone zones while unveiling a master plan for streamlining traffic in the steel city on Friday. “The surveys suggest that these seven points are dangerous when it comes to road mishaps,” said Paul.

The studies — carried out by the three consultancy firms in different phases between 2004 and 2010 — further revealed that heavy vehicles (trucks and trailers) were primarily responsible for the blood spill on roads. These vehicles, which enter and exit the city thrice a day after the no-entry restriction is lifted, hurtle down the streets with scarce regard for traffic rules. Thirty per cent of these heavy vehicles qualify as “pass-through” traffic that use the city as a passage to NH-33.

Over the past five years, Tata Steel spent a sizeable amount of money to widen and strengthen main thoroughfares and feeder roads catering to heavy traffic. But with the steel major and its other associate companies hitting the expansion path, flow of heavy vehicles, carrying raw materials and finished products, has only increased in the last couple of years.

This has prompted the company to go for traffic segregation through dedicated elevated corridors with suitable connectivity to satellite areas like Mango, Jugsalai and Adityapur, located on the city’s periphery.

L&T Ramboll, a Chennai-based consultant that carried out a traffic decongestion study in the steel city at the behest of Tata Steel, had suggested that snarls would continue to rule roads in and around Jamshedpur if due attention was not paid to infrastructure.

The survey also said Tata Steel’s contribution to traffic was around 22 per cent while other companies, including Tata Motors, Tinplate Company of India Limited, Timken and Lafarge, accounted for 28 per cent of vehicular flow. Commodity movement, the survey added, constituted 50 per cent of the total traffic flow.

Besides L&T Ramboll, Tata Steel had also roped in CRRI and CES to prepare a decongestion and traffic mitigation plan till 2025.