Major city roads become one-lane as cars avoid potholed stretches
Times of India | 1 August 2025
Kolkata: The rain has not spared the city's main arterial roads. At multiple places on Thursday, vehicles were forced to move in a single file, using just one of the two-lane flank to avoid battered pockets. The biggest examples were Diamond Harbour Road, Park Circus Connector, Ambedkar Setu on Bypass, Hyde Road, and Taratala Road.
"The traffic tail was the worst between Mominpore and Ekbalpore on DH Road. The stretch towards Ekbalpore is so bad that only one lane is usable, barely. Even here, smaller vehicles are having extreme difficulty going through, especially when it gets waterlogged like on Thursday morning," said an officer. "We had a long traffic tail in the evening towards Kasba that went deep into Salt Lake towards Nicco Park-Sector V and the gate of Salt Lake Stadium on Bypass because of battered roads. Vehicles avoided the left flank of the bridge. A major traffic chaos was also reported from Taratala Road at the same time," a DCP said.
Traffic cops said they are trying to "foul" vehicles as much as possible — allowing the opposite flank to be used for same-side movement to control the situation. "We are also switching to a manual traffic system from time to time to ensure vehicle flow," an officer said.
According to the KMC, the permanent repair with interlocking concrete blocks is pending because of the rain. "Currently, we are doing patchwork, for which we are cutting the road surface. On wider stretches like EM Bypass, we are doing this in phases so that vehicles can keep moving. This also includes filling up craters and potholes. For the last four days, our work has been hampered by the rain. We will resume work from Friday if we get dry weather," said a KMC official.
The official also indicated that repair with interlocking concrete blocks will take some time. "We are keeping our fingers crossed to finish the work before Durga Puja," the official said.