A short stretch of road promises to ease traffic at the Gariahat junction.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has commissioned a 100-metre carriageway to connect Fern Road with Gariahat Road, close to the main junction.

The link road will benefit vehicles moving in the Fern Road, Khan Place, Ekdalia Place and Gol Park areas. Those wishing to reach Fern Road now take a one-km route along Gariahat Road (South) after taking a left turn at Gol Park or a parallel road. Traffic snarls at Gol Park slow traffic down further.

The link road will be a 300-metre drive for motorists to enter Fern Road directly from Gariahat Road, making it easier to access Ekdalia Place, Kankulia Road and Ballygunge Gardens. Also, motorists coming from the Bijon Setu side can take the link road and reach Gariahat Road, bypassing the Gariahat crossing altogether.

The civil engineering department of the civic body has almost finished the roadwork, with the pavement awaiting construction. Mayor Subrata Mukherjee is slated to throw open the road to the public before Republic Day.

The 100-m stretch used to be a part of Gariahat market, encroached upon by nearly 230 vendors. A tin shed had been erected there by the CMC as temporary accommodation for vendors during reconstruction of the market 20 years ago.

?The shed was to be removed after construction. But instead, the CPM-led civic body at the time sold the stalls inside the market to other buyers and retained the shed,? said Rajib Deb, mayoral council member and local councillor, on Sunday.

The vendors will be rehabilitated in Gariahat market.

?The link road was part of the original plan of the Gariahat market reconstruction, taken up by the civic project and development wing 20 years ago. But it had been left incomplete by the Left-ruled board,? said Mukherjee.

Besides the link road, a pay-and-use toilet, garden and power sub-station will be set up in the recovered area. Power had not been provided to the offices and stalls on the second and third floors of the market for want of a power station, so much of the space has remained vacant. The new sub-station should take care of that.