2-hr traffic trial passes off smoothly at Chingrighata
Times of India | 16 September 2025
Kolkata: Traffic trials were successfully conducted at the Chingrighata crossing on Saturday midnight. Cops have decided to keep the Chingrighata flyover closed on the days the crossing will be cordoned off to make way for girder-launching for Orange Line metro work.
At a stakeholder meeting directed by Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, Kolkata Police agreed to grant the long-awaited traffic block to facilitate bridging of the last 366m viaduct gap atop the busy EM Bypass crossing. It was also decided at the meeting that traffic trials would be conducted on Saturday night for cops to understand the vehicular behaviour.
The traffic block will be needed to place segments to bridge piers 317, 318, and 319, for which two portions of Chingrighata crossing will be blocked on the two respective weekends (Nov 14-16 and Nov 21-23).
"Since the traffic blocks will not be continuous, to avoid confusion among drivers, the flyover that allows vehicles to turn right will be shut down on those six nights," a source said.
The traffic trials began at midnight on Saturday and went on till 2.15 am after shutting down the southbound flank. Vehicles were directed to the new road constructed by RVNL. While vehicles turned left from Metropolitan to the new 600m road to reach Chingrighata crossing, the Chingrighata flyover remained closed to traffic going toward Salt Lake Bypass.
Southbound vehicles were guided through the lane usually taken by Ultadanga-bound vehicles, and the last original lane for southbound vehicles was blocked.
"Cops have decided to clear the whole area—above (on the flyover) and below (along the crossing)—while the girder-launching would be done. Vehicles required to enter Salt Lake Bypass will be directed to turn right from Building More near the foot overbridge (FOB), and the entire stretch—from Chingrighata crossing to Captain Bheri—will be cleared of any vehicular movement," an official said.
Reports on the trials and the outcome of Tuesday's stakeholder meeting will be submitted to the court on Sept 18 (Thursday). A division bench of Justices Sujoy Paul and Smita Das De is hearing a PIL that sought "urgent judicial intervention in the inordinate delay in the completion" of the Orange Line.