Kolkata: A consultancy agency will soon be appointed to solely take care of the traffic on Street No. 1333 in New Town.
Hidco has started the process of selecting the agency, which will help the authorities strategise the location of a vehicular-cum-pedestrian underpass and another pedestrian subway on the thoroughfare that heads towards Infosys campus and Wipro land in Action Area III after Biswa Bangla Gate. For now, the plan is to build the vehicular-cum-pedestrian underpass in front of Tata Medical Center and the pedestrian subway in front of St Xavier's University.
Officials said the road was fast turning into an important stretch in the township, with educational institutes and hospitals, and further ahead, campuses of leading IT companies located along it. While Capgemini has already built a campus, Infosys and Wipro are among the tech giants that are set to come up there. "Street No. 3333 is slowly becoming one of the busiest streets of New Town with more and more vehicles heading to and from the IT companies, educational institutes and hospitals along it. The conflict between vehicular and pedestrian traffic is increasing. So setting up underpasses at strategic locations will help manage the traffic system better," said an official.
He added the agency, once selected, would conduct a 24-hour traffic survey at identified intersections for seven days at a stretch to gather data on peak-hour vehicular and pedestrian traffic. "It will carry out a detailed survey of the locations and adjoining areas, as well as the underground utility cables. The agency will be helped by teams from departments concerned, such as RVNL, WBSEDCL and PHE. The study will include the mapping of the drainage system during and after the construction of subways and underpasses," said an official.
Proposals have been placed for the construction of vehicular subways at four locations on Biswa Bangla Sarani—the Westin intersection, the seventh intersection at Shrachi More, Noapara intersection between Chinar Park and City Centre II and the Chinar Park intersection.