With the 13th Vadodara Marathonscheduled to be held on Sunday morning, the city police have announced several road diversions across 81 roads along the race route. The 42-marathon will be flagged off by Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi at 4 am, and the traffic curbs will stay in place until the event concludes.
The major routes that will remain restricted include Rajmahal Road, Lalbaug flyover, and the Akota Dandia Bazar flyover. All the runs will begin at Navlakhi Ground and end at the Solar Panel at Akota Dandia Bazar flyover. Five shorter marathons will cover portions of the same route, including the 21.097-km half marathon, 10km run, 5.65km timed run (45 minutes), heritage fun run, and Gazra run.
The restricted routes notified by the police include the Navlakhi ground road at Rajmahal Road, where the run will begin and then pass through the Akota-Dandia Bazar cross road to Kothi, Raopura, Tower, Jubilee Baug, Padmavati Shopping Centre, Lehripura Gate, MG Road, Mandvi Gate, Gendi Gate, Pratapnagar Bridge, Baroda Dairy, Susen Tarsali Road-Makarpura Police Station, Lalbaug Bridge, Vishwamitri Road, Muj Mahuda Shivaji Chowk, Akshar Chowk, Old Padra Road, Under Atal Bridge, District Court Road to Nilambar Circle, Priya Talkies Crossroad, Vasna Bhayli Canal Road to Sevasi Canal Road and then to the Priya Talkies Crossroad, ahead to Nilambar Circle, Yoga Circle at OP Road, Gaay Circle at Akota before taking the Akota bridge, and ending at the Solar Panel.
During the course of the marathon, traffic will be allowed on arterial roads from Bagikhana to Lalbaug bridge underpass to Avdhoot railway crossing, Aradhana Cinema Road, Dairy Den circle, Jetalpur bridge underpass, productivity junction to Alkapuri, as well as from Malhar point to Chakli circle. The traffic point at Tower in Raopura, Gendigate, Vihar Junction, Pratapnagar bridge-Dabhoi road junction, as well as Baroda Dairy circle and the Gurudwara circle in Tarsali have been notified as an ‘access point’, which will be opened and closed for traffic as per requirement by police personnel deployed on duty.
Bhavans Circle, Shreyas School Junction, Mujmahuda Circle, Manisha Crossroads, Gay Circle, Maharana Pratap Circle, Nilambar Circle and Yoga Circle have also been notified as access points, merging the restricted routes with the alternate routes available for traffic.
Heavy vehicles and ST buses have been completely restricted on the routes that merge with the marathon. ST buses headed to and arriving from Surat, Karjan, Chhota Udepur, Dabhoi, Rajpipla, and Waghodia have been diverted to Vadsar, Akshar Chowk, Atal Bridge and thereon to the Vadodara bus depot, while those headed to and arriving from Padra and Jambusar will head to the Vadodara bus depot instead of their usual destination at Kirti Stambh through Akshar Chowk and Race Course Road.
Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
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