Flyover truck ban chokes roads

Kolkata: The collapse of the under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover in March and the Ultadanga flyover in 2013 has, in a knee-jerk reaction, prompted the authorities of the Hooghly River Bridge Commission (HRBC) to impose restricions on the movement of goods vehicles on the Kidderpore flyover, putting more vehicular pressure and causing snaking traffic snarls on adjoining roads.
It is a 'strange' collective fear psychosis of the government department that has put undue pressure on the surface roads, while the flyovers remain empty and under-utilized.The collapse of under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover and collapse of Ultodanga flyover earlier has led the agencies like Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), PWD and Hooghly River Bridge Commission (HRBC) to impose fresh restriction on the movement of heavy vehicles along the flyovers.
The uni-directional (east to west) flyover has suddenly been made out of bounds for large goods behicles, leaving the roads beneath choked. This is one of the few of the city's freight corridors, where goods vehicles are allowed to ply round the clock. One of the reasons the flyover was built was to ensure seamless movement of goods vehicles to the port.
However, ever since the bar on goods vehicles took effect a few days ago, all heavy vehicles now take the adjoining roads, leaving them choked almost all through the day. "We are having a tough time managing the huge volume of traffic that is now passing through the intersection. We keep running up and down Diamond Harbour Road and Karl Marx Sarani, with snarls happening frequently," said a traffic officer from the Vidyasagar traffic guard. The problem is acute in the morning and evening peak hours. At 9.30am, there are serpentine queues of vehicles on both Diamond Harbour Road and Karl Marx Sarani.
Jumbling up of buses, trucks and slow-moving vehicles like carts left the snarl more chaotic.
"A safety and security audit is being conducted on all existing flyovers. After the audit, the flyovers should be thrown open to all traffic, otherwise the problem will become more complex. Soon, all schools dotting the road will open after summer vacation. The school traffic will make our lives more difficult," said another traffic sergeant.
Much of the fear may be unfounded, said sources. Each flyover is designed and built to carry a garrison of battle tanks in times of war. So, any flyover is ready carry any even the heaviest goods vehicles, said an officer of the traffic and transportation planning directorate. The flyover at Ultadanga collapsed because of a technical error. The Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed because of the use of inferior materials and faulty design. "Only 4% of Kolkata's population uses cars or cabs. If the flyover is used only by cars, it becomes highly undemocratic," said Anvita Arora, CEO of i-trans, a transport solution provider.
"Such a bar is defeating the purpose of the flyover, which was built to decongest the Kidderpore crossing," said former chief traffic and transportation engineer Ajay Das.
"We are restricting the entry of heavy goods vehicles. For this, we are erecting a height bar at the Hastings end. Trailers are often causing trouble for other vehicles. I think the restriction will not cause much problems on the roads," said HRBC chairman Sadhan Banerjee. When told about the chaos on the roads, he said: "We might review the situation after some days and make necessary changes."
Earlier this month, all engineering agencies like KMDA, HRBC and departments like PWD, transport department, irrigation department were instructed to take necessary action internally for structural diagnosis and testing, to assess the structural stability of completed or under-construction flyovers. The restriction is based on this instruction, said a government officer.
Government officers admitted that a number of flyovers and elevated corridors in and around the city are not properly maintained and looked after as people are very much concerned about their safety aspects. There has been complaints for a long time of mice making inroads into the Dhakuria flyover but no check has been done to look into the condition of the pillars and slabs. There are a number of flyovers like Sukanta setu and Chinrighata flyover where motorists have often complained of feeling a jerky ride while plying over. But no where else in India, a flyover is kept out of bound for majority of vehicles for an indefinite period.