May 30: The residents are baffled. Flyovers are supposed to solve traffic problems, not compound them. So Dispur?s decision to construct three more flyovers after Ulubari, Ganeshguri and Athgaon has been greeted with more apprehension than optimism.

With the adverse effects of the newly-inaugurated flyovers becoming increasingly evident, opposition to the proposed flyover on GNB Road is growing by the day.

?We have all seen how the residents of Ulubari and Athgaon are suffering because of the lopsided designing of the flyovers. We cannot allow the same to happen on GNB Road at any cost,? said Renuka Debibarkatoki, president of the GNB Road Flyover Birodhi Samiti.

The residents of GNB Road have formed the samiti to oppose the construction of the flyover and suggested some alternatives, which they think will ease traffic congestion on GNB Road.

The samiti thinks that a flyover on GNB Road will only compound the problems.

?Instead of going for a flyover, a rotary at the Guwahati Club traffic intersection, an alternative road along the abandoned railway track from T.C. School traffic intersection to Barowari, making the MC Road one way and an inner road along the railway track from Guwahati Club to Noonmati will reduce the load on the GNB Road,? said K. Sarma, a member of the samiti.

Apart from this, Dispur has decided to construct two more flyovers on GS Road at Bhangagarh and Six Mile.

The government wants to do away with traffic signals at the intersections on GS Road by constructing the two flyovers, but the manner in which the Athgaon and Ulubari flyovers have been designed, the people are very sceptical whether these flyovers will really serve any purpose.

An official of the traffic branch of city police, on condition of anonymity, said the Ulubari and Athgaon flyovers could have been planned in a much better way.

?The flyovers are not serving the purpose for which they were constructed. For instance, the Ulubari flyover has made traffic management extremely difficult at the Lachitnagar traffic intersection while the Athgaon flyover has led to a chaotic situation at the intersection of AT Road and FA Road,? the source pointed out.

The narrow service roads of the Ulubari flyover, particularly the one from the Lachitnagar side towards Ulubari chariali, aggravated the problem.

He said the problem would have been solved if the Athgaon flyover was extended beyond the AT Road and FA Road intersection instead of ending it there.

?After the Ulubari flyover was completed the traffic congestion at Lachitnagar point has increased manifold. For the safety of the pedestrians, a footbridge over GS Road has become a immediate necessity,? said Matin Ahmed, general secretary of Lachitnagar and Dakhin Sarania Unnayan Samity.

There is a similar mess under the Athgaon flyover.

?As the service roads are yet to be constructed and the railway gate 5 has been permanently closed, we have to take a circuitous route through MS Road to reach AT Road from Athgaon,? said M.L. Jain, a senior citizen.

After the railway level crossing was closed, the service roads are the only connecting roads to Athgaon from Paltan Bazar and Bharalumukh.

A shopkeeper in the area said the parking place under the bridge is inadequate considering the number of vehicles, apart from rickshaws and carts, which ply in the area.

?There should also be alternative routes to ease pressure on the narrow service roads and the bridge. The existing level crossing should be kept open at least for three and two-wheelers,? said Mohit Agarwal of Athgaon.

As the Ganeshguri flyover is better planned compared to the Ulubari and Athgaon flyovers, traffic police have recommended the installation of automatic traffic signals for better traffic management under the Ganeshguri flyover.

?Zebra crossings and multi-storeyed parking lots should also be built at Ganeshguri to tackle traffic congestion,? a traffic police official said.

With the areas under the flyovers in darkness, antisocial elements take advantage of the situation.

?After dark, women usually avoid the service roads as youths drink openly in the area,? said Anima Guha, activist and a resident of Ulubari.

The situation is similar under the Athgaon flyover and the stadium overbridge where tickets of international cricket matches are sold in black and liquor hawked on the sly.