State plans three more underpasses on VIP Road

KOLKATA: Three more pedestrian underpasses will be built on the VIP Road stretch from Tegharia to Kaikhali towards the airport-end. VIP Road will also be widened further and the stretches below the newly opened flyover Kestopur-Baguiati flyover will be beautified to develop VIP Road into a green corridor.
The flyover that was opened last month, along with the three underpasses at Kestopur, Baguiati and Joramandir, has eased traffic flow at Kestopur and Baguiati junctions.However, the PWD has noticed that traffic congestion is occurring at Tegharia and Kaikhali crossings. Vehicles coming down from the flyover are stopping due to pedestrian movement. Hence the plan for the three new underpasses — at Tegharia, Kaikhali and the airport-Jessore Road crossing.
VIP Road will be further widened from Baguiati towards the airport-end. Since cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad have high-speed green corridors leading to the airport, the state government had earlier decided to develop VIP Road similarly. Accordingly, billboards were removed from the stretch.
A large stretch from Ultadanga to Kestopur has already undergone sea change, with decorated streetlights, beautified waterbodies and canal stretches coming up. A miniature replica of the famous Big Ben of London is also being set up at the Lake Town crossing on the airport-bound flank of VIP Road and a few decorated AC passenger shelters have also been set up.
According to plans, more such beautification will be done on the Ultadanga-Lake Town stretch. The government has planned to name the entire stretch — starting from the airport, entering New Town, moving all the way through the main arterial road before meeting EM Bypass — as Biswa Bangla Sarani. The main arterial road has already been declared as a green corridor. It’s another matter that trees are being felled indiscriminately in the name of beautification.