A trial involving the diversion of vehicles along a new roadway off EM Bypass in Chingrighata, which began recently, will last for another couple of weeks before any conclusions are reached regarding the suggested traffic disruption for Metro work.

A nearly 500-metre stretch of a two-lane road, beginning after the Metropolitan crossing, was opened to all Beleghata and Ultadanga-bound vehicles on January 21, as part of a traffic trial by Kolkata Police.

Close to a year ago, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), tasked with the implementation of the New Garia-Airport Metro line, established the road that ends near the old office of the Beleghata traffic guard, with Captain Bheri on the left side at Chingrighata. The intention behind this was to ease traffic congestion heading towards Ultadanga along the EM Bypass when a segment of this important thoroughfare is obstructed for Metro work, which is required to elevate concrete blocks to close a gap in the viaduct.

“The trial will continue for a few weeks, when we will observe the challenges faced by the traffic when heavy goods vehicles are diverted along this new stretch with smaller ones,” Yeilwad Shrikant Jagannathrao, deputy police commissioner (traffic), told Metro.

“It is vital to check how the traffic-load bearing capacity of the new stretch and how the traffic flows if all vehicles are diverted. We will also work out a new traffic signalling system for diverting vehicles along this new stretch of road,” he said.

The trial is crucial for the RVNL to be granted the block, police officers said.

Since September, the RVNL has been seeking a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for night traffic blocks around Chingrighata on EM Bypass to launch concrete blocks among piers 317, 318, and 319 to fill a 366-metre gap.

The traffic trial couldn’t be held for so long because the road had not been formally handed over to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), senior officers of the Kolkata Police said. The formalities were completed only recently, they added.

An official of the RVNL refuted the allegation and accused the police of sitting over the block despite a prod from Calcutta High Court.

In December, a division bench of the high court, comprising Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, had ordered that work on concrete blocks must be completed by February 15, citing the matter as “clearly in the realm of public interest”.

“This trial is complex because all the Ultadanaga-bound vehicles will be diverted towards Captain Bheri on a curved stretch of road that merges near the Chingrighata crossing. The width of this stretch is less than that of EM Bypass, which moves straight, bringing vehicles to Chingrighata,” a senior Kolkata Police officer said.

“The number of heavy goods vehicles moving at night along EM Bypass has gone up for some time, and the Chingrighata crossing remains one of the most accident-prone intersections on this hospital corridor of the city,” he said.

Senior police officers stated that while the trial continues, there has been no discussion as yet on when the traffic block will be granted to the RVNL for the proposed Metro work. Captain Bheri, through which the road passes, is part of the East Kolkata Wetlands, a designated Ramsar site. The road will be dismantled once the viaduct gap is bridged, railway officials said.

The Orange Line is now functional between New Garia and Beleghata. The next phase that is to be commissioned is between Beleghata and Sector V, which includes Chingrighata.