A 500-metre diversion road cutting through Captain Bheri off EM Bypass, built nearly a year ago to ease congestion at Chingrighata during Metro construction, was finally opened to Ultadanga-bound traffic on Wednesday as part of a trial by Kolkata Police.

The stretch, constructed by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) for the New Garia-Airport Metro line, is intended to decongest EM Bypass once traffic blocks are imposed to bridge a 366-metre gap in the Metro viaduct.

Until now, a traffic trial could not be conducted due to delays over formal approvals for the proposed blocks, despite intervention by Calcutta High Court. The road had not yet been formally handed over to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

With the formalities completed, Kolkata Police began a trial to map peak-hour traffic patterns along the new stretch, which starts near the Metropolitan crossing and reaches Chingrighata intersection with Captain Bheri on the left.

“The trial is meant to see how Beleghata- or Ultadanga-bound traffic moves down the new stretch from Metropolitan crossing, particularly during morning and evening peak hours,” Yeilwad Shrikant Jagannathrao, deputy police commissioner (traffic), told Metro.

Senior police officers have been diverting Ultadanga-bound traffic along the diversion while monitoring potential challenges for motorists and residents of nearby Majherpara.

“The trial is more of an acclimatisation process for commuters and local residents. The new stretch connects to Canal South Road near the old Beleghata traffic outpost,” an officer said. The trial will continue for several days before a final report is prepared.

Since September, RVNL has been seeking a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the police to implement night-time traffic blocks aroundChingrighata for erecting concrete blocks between piers 317, 318, and 319 of the Metro viaduct. RVNL officials said the trial is a critical step before the police can grant the much-awaited clearance for these traffic blocks.

In December, a division bench of Calcutta High Court, comprising Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, had ordered that work on erecting concreteblocks at Chingrighatamust be completed by February 15, citing the matter as “clearly in the realm of public interest.”

Senior officers said that while the trial is underway, no timeline has yet been decided for granting traffic blocksto RVNL.

“We want to monitor traffic flows, particularly after the book fair begins on January 22,” one officer said.

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.