Science City-bound vehicles from Salt Lake Bypass during evening rush hours are being made to travel in two rows at the Chingrighata intersection and officers are ensuring vehicles keep to the left for the next 300m before merging with traffic on EM Bypass.
This is part of a recent police exercise to address the congestion at one of the city’s most complex intersections.
Till now, vehicles going from Nicco Park towards Ruby hospital would either have to move through a single lane on the left and turn towards EM Bypass or wait for the traffic to stop at the Chingrighata crossing before turning left.
Now, a team of senior officers, traffic constables and civic volunteers are posted at the intersection between 6pm and 9pm to ensure Science City-bound vehicles are drained out from Salt Lake Bypass without having to wait for the signal.
The vehicles are allowed to merge with the traffic on EM Bypass near a point in front of VIP Sweets so they don’t impede the Ruby-bound flow on the Bypass.
The idea behind this is to reduce congestion of rush evening hour vehicles coming from Sector V and New Town to the Chingrighata intersection.
“Officers from Kolkata police and their counterparts in the Bidhannagar police commissionerate are tasked with the job of waving at vehicles headed towards south to keep to the left before reaching the intersection from Salt Lake Bypass,” said a senior police officer.
“Once the vehicles have more or less fallen in two rows, they are allowed to move ahead without intersecting with the traffic moving towards Ruby along EM Bypass.”
Managing the left turn of vehicles from Salt Lake Bypass towards Science City across the Chingrighata crossing remains a challenge for the police, particularly during evening rush hours for several reasons. Some of them are:
- A continuous trickle of pedestrians and cyclists from Sukanta Nagar crosses the Chingrighata intersection throughout the day.
- EM Bypass gets narrower near the turn towards the south at the Chingrighata intersection because of the flyover. As a result, vehicles tend to move slower while taking a left turn.
- Vehicles from Salt Lake Bypass either move straight crossing EM Bypass towards Canal South Road or take a right turn towards Ultadanga. The majority take a left turn towards Ruby.
- Pedestrians move from the west towards the east, crossing EM Bypass twice at two points.
“Traffic movement needs to be stalled in phases to accommodate these crossovers. During evening rush hours, this results in a huge congestion on Salt Lake Bypass,” the officer said.
“Several IT companies have done away with work-from-home. As a result, the number of cars and private buses has gone up.”
A section of Salt Lake Bypass is blocked off because of Metro construction work and the road space has been reduced significantly.
Senior officers said unless rush hour traffic to and from Nicco Park is drained out regularly, it becomes a mess in the morning and evening.
“We have spoken to our counterparts in Kolkata police to work out a solution by ensuring free left turn during evening rush hours,” said a senior officer of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate
Motorists said heading towards Science City from Salt Lake Bypass in the evening remains a challenge with cars nearly crawling at the Chingrighata intersection.
“The situation is bad even late in the evening with Salt Lake Bypass chock-a-block and EM Bypass unable to take the additional load,” said Sujit Ghosh, a software developer who lives in Kasba.
A report drawn up by the police says Chingrighata is a complex intersection with the north-south movement of vehicles and “heavy pedestrian crossover from a few major and minor roads, including EM Bypass, Canal South Road, Chowlpatty Road, an extension of Jalvayu Bihar and Beleghata Main Road”.
Officers said residents of Sukanta Nagar have to cross this intersection to fetch drinking water because of the lack of piped potable water supply, making it even more difficult to manage the traffic flow.
“We are constantly trying to find new solutions towards managing rush hour traffic,” the officer said.
