Traffic congestion on NH-5 in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 7: Vehicles move at a snail’s pace on the Madhupatna-Sikharpur stretch of NH-5 because of restrictions clamped for the demolition of a century-old bridge over Taladanda canal.

It takes the residents of Sikharpur more than an hour to come to Madhupatna via the OMP overbridge, which is barely 1.5km away.

“The entire stretch of the highway remain severely congested on most days. It took us one-and-a-half hours to travel from Press Chhak to Sikharpur last night,” said Sambit Mohanty, a commuter.

He apprehended that the situation would only worsen in the wake of the upcoming Bali yatra festival in the city.

Though traffic police officers have made provisions for traffic diversion for vehicles coming from the Madhupatna side to the second bridge over Taladanda canal, it has failed to clear traffic chaos on the highway.

A senior police official said that the congestion was likely to prevail as there was no other alternative route to divert the highway traffic.

“We have already deployed around 10 traffic constables to regulate traffic on the highway. In case of a severe congestion, vehicles are being allowed to use both routes,” said assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Pramod Rath.