Salt Lake: The traffic management plan for the Salt Lake bypass has been tweaked to ensure a smoother flow to Sector V and New Town during office hours.
According to the plan, which came into effect on Tuesday, vehicles headed for Sector V from EM Bypass are allowed to use both flanks of the Salt Lake bypass from 8.30am to 11.30am.
The cars leaving Salt Lake and New Town and headed for EM Bypass during the period are being diverted through the service lane in front of Nicco Park to Sukantanagar, near the Chingrighata crossing, from where they can hit EM Bypass.
The new traffic plan has been drawn up by the traffic wing of the Bidhannagar commissionerate in consultation with the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority, which manages the civic affairs of Sector V.
The traffic department has recently conducted a survey to find out ways to ease the congestion on the Sector V-bound flank of the Salt Lake bypass, where work is on to build the elevated corridor of the New Garia-Airport Metro link.
The rush-hour traffic density on the Sector V-bound flank has been estimated to be 200 vehicles per second.
"Every morning thousands of vehicles enter Sector V and New Town through the Salt Lake bypass. There would be snarls despite the best of our efforts as the Sector V-bound flank is too narrow to handle the volume," said Amit Javalgi, deputy commissioner, headquarters, Bidhannagar commissionerate.
While the Sector V-bound flank would remain packed with vehicles every morning, the EM Bypass-bound one would have much less traffic. "The number of vehicles headed for Sector V and New Town from EM Bypass is many times more than the number of vehicles travelling in the opposite direction during the morning rush hour," an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
"That is why we have decided to keep both flanks of the Salt Lake bypass open for vehicles bound for New Town and Sector V from 8.30 to 11.30 in the morning. In the evening, depending on the volume of traffic on a given day, we are directing EM Bypass-bound vehicles from Sector V or New Town through both flanks of the Salt Lake bypass for a certain duration."
The Salt Lake bypass is a wide thoroughfare where three cars can drive abreast on each flank.
An officer said a car would typically take half an hour to cover the 1.5km from the point where the Chingrighata flyover merges with the bypass to the intersection near Nicco Park during the morning rush hour.
New Town traffic plan
The police have decided on a set of traffic diversions to facilitate the construction of a station on the New Garia-Airport Metro route near New Town bus stand. The diversions will take effect on Saturday.
Motorists headed for the airport from Salt Lake through the Major Arterial Road will have to turn left around 100m ahead of the New Town bus stand and drive straight down Street No. 70 till around 30m ahead of Utsa Garden housing complex.
At that point commuters have to turn right and move towards Pride Hotel, from where they can get back on the Major Arterial Road.
Those headed towards Salt Lake from the airport through the Major Arterial Road will have to turn left at the base of the flyover in front of Axis Mall and drive towards Nazrul Tirtha.
