12 Kolkata: Movement of heavy vehicles due to an ongoing metro construction work and continuous rain have left the road in front of Technopolis in Sector V cratered.
According to motorists, vehiclular speed has reduced to 5-7 kmph even during non-peak hours and it was taking up to 15 minutes to negotiate a 150m stretch, leading to traffic jams. “We can understand traffic snarls during peak hours but cars take several minutes to cross this stretch even during non-peak hours,” said Kaushik Chanda, a resident of New Town.
A senior traffic officer said they had ensured multiple patchwork repairs but the newly laid bitumen layers were wearing off too, thanks to constant movement of heavy vehicles and rain.“Managing this situation is difficult. Additional traffic police have been deployed to keep the vehicles moving,” said the officer. RVNL has deployed 40 traffic marshals to ease traffic congestions in the stretch.
The construction work for the Orange Line had started earlier this month. Although the road falls under the NDITA jurisdiction, Metro authorities are the custodian of the stretch for the time being.
To facilitate traffic movement, a new road was carved from near the Technopolis building with Salt Lake-bound traffic from New Town being diverted along the new road. “The new road was in perfect shape and even with a large portion of the main road barricaded, there was no major congestion in the initial phase of the work. But such has been the condition of the new road now that many of us have started taking a detour,” said Anindya Sen, who drives regularly between New Town and his home at Kankurgachhi.
Like Sen, many motorists coming from New Town are now taking Ring Road to exit near Nicco Park and then taking a U-turn to enter Salt Lake. Salt Lake-bound vehicles are taking Street No. 9 and 13 to reach the main Sector V thoroughfare and turn left to head to Salt Lake.
Metro officials said they had already started patchwork repair works with paver blocks. “A full-fledged relaying of the surface isn’t possible till the rain stops,” the official added.