[sabret00the]

As the title of this thread suggests I think off late it's become almost impossible to travel in Kolkata during office hours. Everyday, I travel from Behala to Sec V & back home - it takes me approx. 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours on each leg of the journey to travel just 20kms. I think number of cars on the roads has suddenly increased a lot and this coupled with poor road infrastructure is leading to a bigger chaotic situation in the near future. I have been travelling through this route for the past 4 years and I remember we used to attain full speed at the AJC Bose Road flyover & near the Nikko Park area - nobody had ever witnessed traffic jam there. Today, the jam starts before you exit the AJC Bose Road flyover at Park Circus and the Sec V jam now-a-days has started to extend till in front of Nalban. Worst thing is that the cops dont need to impose a speed restriction on the EM Bypass anymore as traffic crawls way below the speed limit in anycase. The story just gets repeated once again while returning home. Is this the collateral damage for development?

The authorities are answering by reducing the size of the rotary near Ruby & Science City. Ironically, 4 years ago very few people would actually dare walk outside Wipro area after 6'o clock in the evening - now there's so much traffic that they're building a flyover. But what I really fail to understand is that why are the great thinkers of Kolkata sitting quitely and not thinking about a new road similar to the the EM Bypass running from Ruby or Science City all the way to Rajarhat via the rear side of Sec V - I think that can only resolve this clear & present danger in front of us.


Traffic Jam in front of Nicco Park - entry point of Sec V during office hours

[senindra]

Hi Sabret00the,

You are certainly right there - and I am sure this applies to all over India and not only Calcutta. I have noticed the problem getting only worse with each and every trip back to India. Last time I was in Kolkata it took me "atleast" half an hour to get from Nicco Park to the "4 no. pool" and that could be easily 45 minutes or even one hour depending on the time of the day.

I for one hate being driven around, but I did finally give up and request the driver to drive me around for a couple of days - he was zapped! He came up with something like "Dada amar chalano apnar bhalo laagbe toh ?"

I guess that the people are planning a few new roads, but I do not think that would help Kolkata in any way, we thought the AJC Bose fly over would help - but it became a bottle neck and resulted in more delays, next, the Garia bypass which, if you turn right, takes you straight to the south city mall - that road is a night mare - you could easily go full whack on that road before South City Mall opened.

I believe - no matter what Kolkata does - traffic will only get worse.

Why ? The disposable income is increasing by the day and the group of middle class is only becoming bigger - add to that the launch of Tata Nano in a few months ! It will be a disaster as far as traffic is concerned !

My 2 cents.

[shuvc]

It's increasing by the month probably.

I came to office at 9 after a month. Wipro & IEM crossing used to be quite thin at that hour when I used to come at that hour in June. Today was surely 20-30% more crowded.

Originally Posted by sabret00the

But what I really fail to understand is that why are the great thinkers of Kolkata sitting quitely and not thinking about a new road similar to the the EM Bypass running from Ruby or Science City all the way to Rajarhat via the rear side of Sec V - I think that can only resolve this clear & present danger in front of us

I believe such a project is already on the anvil. Some road via Bantala etc.

[nikunj_cal]

Choke Points :-

AJC Bose Road Flyover - Park Circus Crossing - Long Traffic Signal espcially if it has just turned Red.

Entry to "Char No Bridge" - Widened Road before but narrow bridge after leading to chaos. All cars cutting to their right to try to enter the narrow mouth of the bridge.

Topsia Crossing - Hell breaks loose there . "Shuttles" picking up passengers to their left + Narrow Mouth = Chaos again

All smooth till Park Circus Connector.

Park Circus Connector - Right turning cars take 3 out of four lanes keeping one small lane for left turning cars . Again more cars cutting to their left to take the turn.

Smooth Flowing till Sector V Entry

Sector V Entry - Sabre's pics say it all !!

[musicmanaman]

The problem is Kolkata does not have broad roads, the Auto's in the city don't care at all about road manners, and the roads are not managed with any common sence.

If they induce a couple of flyover at critical juntions, it will easy the traffic jams substancially, however the authorities have no idea how to and where to have these flyovers contructed and the city is becoming more and more non drivable by the day.

People coming in from Race course who want to catch the bypass, why should they land in the 7 point park circus crossing, the brige should bypass the cross for the people going towards bypass, but this is not the case.

A simple flyover for people at the Tangra cross would do wonders, people coming from Bridge no 4 who are heading towards Saltlake or Air-port, could have just gone over the flyover and skipped the crossing, but again this is not the case.

The above flyover are just some examples in my opinion, a few flyover in critical junctions will do wonders to the city, but only if the authorities know where and how to build them, and by no means it's rocket since, it's just common sence.

[planet_rocker]

my 2 paisa:

my office is about 1KM from home - if i walk to work it takes 10mins - if i take a cab / my car, it takes 30 mins

[safari_lover]

Another big problem is the utter lack of traffic sense. I have seen cycle rikshaws at the right most end of the EM Bypass road! The traffic police don't even care to move their body even while seeing this and much more.

[razor4077]

Originally Posted by shuvc

I believe such a project is already on the anvil. Some road via Bantala etc.

Yep, that's right. Not sure when it'll see the light of day though.
IMHO, the biggest problem as far as roads/infrastructure in Kolkata is concerned, is the lack of foresight on the part of the planners. They plan short-term solutions (Park St. flyover is a classic example), without thinking ahead and putting that solution into the bigger context of things.
Someone needs to stand up and improve things.... we need our Dark Knight

[aerohit]

You are living in a country that has one of the highest population density.

There is nothing much you can do about it - except if people start having 1 child (or less(adopt)) per family.

Traffic will only get worse in coming years.

[sabret00the]

Originally Posted by aerohit

You are living in a country that has one of the highest population density.

There is nothing much you can do about it - except if people start having 1 child (or less(adopt)) per family.

Traffic will only get worse in coming years.

Problem with Calcutta is that Govt takes 10 years to identify the problem...when they do they take another 5 years to implement it...and finally when they are all set to implement the solution the opposition violently starts to oppose the move saying it's against the interest of the general population and the plan falls into the back burner for another 10 years...I think the Govt of West Bengal should wake up from it's slumber and pay attention to improving Kolkata's infrastructure before dreaming for turning the City into another Bangalore or Gurgaon. They will eventually rise up to the situation when it's too late and then try to widen roads here or reduce the size of a rotary there. The entire Dhapa stretch is empty now - what are they waiting for Christmas. Instead of dreaming about East West Metro, light rail transit, etc. they should come back to ground level and better start building some new roads....

[ssjr0498]

Hi,

if you think that the traffic in Kolkata is bad and its getting worse and that taking 1 hr to travel a distance of 20km makes you go mad!

He he! I would request you to visit Bangalore the IT capital of India! once. Incase you haven't that is! It takes 45+ mins only to cover 1km during the peak hours if your going from a place called BTM water tank to Silk board not to mention about the great journey from silk board to E-city on Hosur Rd.

On an average if I have to reach my office in E-city by 9am which is just.. just.. 15km from my home, I leave my home no later than 6:30~6:45 am.

Someone said that roads in Kolkata are not broad enough! Bro, if the roads that the ppl here are talking about are not broad, then in that case then what would you call the roads in Bangalore, "gullies" I beleive! and FYI, there are places right in the heart of the city where the by lanes do not have a road at all!!

All of this in a place where the road tax is amongs the highest (if not the highest) in the country and someone blames the WB govt! If the WB govt are just useless what would you call the KA govt! It took them more than 6 yrs to build a small flyover, 1/10th the size of the AJC Bose rd flyover and that too which is one way!.. eventually creating more chaos that what was before!

Some said, the auto guys in Kol are a horrific! Bro! atleast they are not allowed on the major roads and ply on only some parts of the city! Here, in Bangalore, you will see the "World Auto Championship" happening on every single road/by lane every single hour of the day. To top it all, the auto is one of the major public transport.. But yeah, it does give a great smoky/foggy effect to the city which reminds me of the glorious days of Bangalore when one would wake up early to see one of the most beautiful mornings that you could, not to mention the nice cool breze and brilliant weather.


I am not biased towards any city, its just that I feel you guys are in a place 100 times better than what I think it is from a lot of places in this country! So take a chill pill my friends!

Just wanted to share my 2 cents! That's all.

Cheers,
Shrey

[sabret00the]

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

Hi,

if you think that the traffic in Kolkata is bad and its getting worse and that taking 1 hr to travel a distance of 20km makes you go mad!

I would request you to visit Bangalore once in that case if you haven't that is! It takes 45+ mins only to cover 1km during the peak hours if your going from a place called BTM water tank to Silk board not to mention about the great journey from silk board to E-city on Hosur Rd.

On an average if I have to reach my office in E-city by 9am which is just.. just.. 15km from my home, I leave my home no later than 6:30~6:45 am.

Wow...now that's deadly - infact that's what I was talking about in my last post. I was in B'lore in 2006 & I currently have a number of friends in B'lore - they all say that this is what Kolkata is heading to - mere influx of large MNCs without a matching infrastructure developement will result in severe traffice jams, fuel shortages, smog & pollution issues & many more evils associated with sudden & unplanned development.

Someone said that roads in Kolkata are not broad enough! Bro, if the roads that the ppl here are talking about are not broad, then in that case then what would you call the roads in Bangalore, "gullies" I beleive! and FYI, there are places right in the heart of the city where the by lanes do not have a road at all!!

You can leave this for Kolkata only remember it's almost a 400 year old city.

Some said, the auto guys in Kol are a horrific! Bro! atleast they are not allowed on the major roads and ply on only some parts of the city! Here, in Bangalore, you will see the "World Auto Championship" happening on every single road/by lane every single hour of the day. To top it all, the auto is one of the major public transport.. But yeah, it does give a great smoky/foggy effect to the city which reminds me of the glorious days of Bangalore when one would wake up early to see one of the most beautiful mornings that you could, not to mention the nice cool breze and brilliant weather.

Seems like Autos are a menace everywhere...but in Kolkata recently owing to too many articles in the newspapers there is a major crackdown on autos by the police in Kolkata 2/3rds of which is unlicensed.

-------------------------

I just did an experiment today. I came to office on my bike instead of taking the car. Usually, I get out at 9am and reach office by 10:50-10:55am when I come by car. But today I woke up unusually late so I decided to take the bike instead. I got out at 9:50am today. I did the same things that I do when travelling in the car. I 1st picked up my GF from her house. Then I took the same old route that I use everyday. Since the roads were wet so I was taking care not to go beyond 50-60kms. But to my surprise I dropped my GF at her office at Karunamoyee at 10:35am & reached my office at Technopolis by 10:45am. I realised how much time I waste on a daily basis just waiting at the long queues at traffic jams. But with the bike I could easily take lanes & move to the front of the queue and as soon as the signal turned green I would be the 1st one to start. But that said and done I think travelling on a bike during office hours is not only unsafe during the rainy season - you also have the chance of getting wet & dirty if it suddenly starts raining say on the EM Bypass. Apart from that a mixture of thick SMOG & dust turns your face, hair, eyes & clothes dirty by the time your reach office.

[shuvd]

Nothing will be done to the autos. All autos are affiliated to some union (ruling or opposition). The money trail leads from the lowest traffic cop to the party office.

[sabret00the]

Originally Posted by shuvd

Nothing will be done to the autos. All autos are affiliated to some union (ruling or opposition). The money trail leads from the lowest traffic cop to the party office.

that's certainly true...and that's explains why the autos are so reckless.

[ssjr0498]

Bro,

when I was in kol, as long as we lived near Kalamandir.. (AJC Bose Rd and Shakespeare sarani crossing) It was ok for me to take my car to work. But once we moved to New Alipore, I would take my bike to work (Wipro) rather than taking my car. On an average I would save atleast 20-25 mins. But yeah, during the summer months, it does become quite challenging.

Slightly OT: where in Behala do you stay?

Cheers,
Shrey