The persistent bottleneck

July 16, 2014

On weekdays, the signal at Jagathy Junction causes a traffic jam stretching all the way to the AIR gates

Can a traffic signal produce a traffic jam half a kilometre long? If you want evidence of this, drop by Jagathy Junction on a working day morning. And yes, leave your vehicle at home because you sure do not want to be part of that half-kilometre queue.

Even on a quiet day, the All India Radio-Jagathy Junction road is busy. On working days, traffic on this road is nasty to say the least. After DPI Junction, the road narrows down, and there is hardly enough space for two-way traffic.

At Jagathy Junction, whenever the traffic light turns red, the result is a traffic pile-up all the way back to the All India Radio gates and, sometimes, even beyond. This also bring traffic to a standstill at DPI Junction, which is a crucial transit point for emergency vehicles coming from Jagathy, Poojappura, and beyond. The Jagathy bottleneck also proves frustrating for drivers who use Kochar Road to bypass traffic on the city’s ‘main’ roads.

Some people argue that such a small junction as Jagathy can do better without a traffic signal; what is needed, such people aver, are more personnel who can manage traffic more intelligently than a pre-programmed signal system. Is there any merit in this argument?

The Vellayambalam-Kowdiar stretch has achieved notoriety for high-speed bike racing by youngsters late in the night, early morning, and weekends.

The installation of cameras and clampdown on speeding have prompted the racing aficionados to shift to other places in the city. Of late, the wide stretch from the Kowdiar traffic signal to Pattom, especially till Kuravankonam, has become another sought-after place for racers.

Perhaps, it is time law enforcers turned their attention to the stretch before any untoward incident occurs.

It is not a surprise that whenever a work is under way on any road in the city, even if it is intended at improving the traffic situation, normal traffic is further thrown off-track.

The ongoing works on M.G. Road are perhaps the best example.

At East Fort, it is the work on shifting the median that has affected traffic and worsened the chaos, while a little ahead, towards the Secretariat, work on the Melepazhavangady flyover has seen iron sheets being put up, narrowing the road almost to a single-car pathway. This slows down traffic here at peak hours.

This is where a little bit of planning might come in handy.

Sources: The Hindu