Journalism of Courage
Incessant rain and traffic snarls on arterial roads even at non-peak hours have made driving through the city roads a harrowing experience. The traffic police point out that the bottlenecks on narrow bridges and junctions have become unmanageable. Having identified some key spots where bottlenecks arise,the police and the experts say making changes at some of the places in the city has in fact increased traffic jams.
On Friday,even at a 3 pm,the traffic flow is at a snails pace on the Jangali Maharaj and Fergusson College Road. The main reason for the jam can be traced to the bottleneck at Garware bridge. There is another jam at the Sambhaji bridge,which is the next passage for the traffic.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Vishwas Pandhare,Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad area had a large number of bridges as Mutha and Mula rivers flow through the city. All these bridges are old and cannot support todays traffic volume. This leads to snarls on connected roads. During monsoon,the problem worsens and traffic moves even slower, he said.
Apart from these old bridges,Pandhare said another traffic bottlenecks are junctions like the Engineering College Square,University Square,Nal Stop,Balbharati Square. Shastri Square. Simla Office Square,Hinjewadi bridge junction on the highway and the Swargate Junction.
The traffic flow at these squares has grown manifold but their carrying capacity remains the same. If a change is made at one these points,the traffic flow through that point goes up but it subsequently jams the next junction which has the same old carrying capacity, said Pandhare.
The DCP said that the police have been requesting the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to install signals at two places on Baner Road.
Now there are signals. The uninterrupted traffic flow comes in at the university junction and causes jams. The signals release the traffic in parts,reducing the burden on the junctions, he said.
However,he stressed that small changes like this cannot be a long-lasting solution to the traffic woes. There is no alternative to better public transport, he said.
Civic activist of Pedestrian First Prashant Inamdar said his forum has been repeatedly telling the police and the PMC that widening of roads have to be consistent. J M Road and F C Road were made one way and the traffic flow in one direction has doubled. Have they made adequate changes at the Garware Bridge and Simla Office Square? The increase in traffic flow is causing bottlenecks and traffic jams, he said.
