GUWAHATI, July 14 - Severe traffic congestion on the Saraighat bridge over the river Brahmaputra has become a common phenomenon and sometimes it takes even hours to cross the bridge even if a minor accident takes place on it. The problem is compounded by the ever-increasing flow of traffic and the slow progress of construction of the second bridge over the river.
The construction of the second bridge parallel to the Saraighat bridge started way back in 2006 and though the company engaged in construction of the same assured in a recent meeting that it would be completed by the end of this year, it seems very unlikely considering the present pace of work.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Deputy Commissioner of City Police (Traffic), Pranab Jyoti Goswami admitted that managing traffic on the bridge has become a major problem because of the ever-increasing number of vehicles crossing the same. He said that according to a study carried out last year, more than 20,000 goods carrying trucks crossed the bridge , not to speak of other kinds of vehicles.
Goswami said that considering the traffic congestion, the Traffic Police suspends movement of trucks on the bridge during the rush hours, from 8 am to 11 am and from 4 pm to 8 pm to avoid congestion. But that creates another major problem as the city does not have adequate space for parking of the trucks and the service roads constructed along with the National Highway are not at all adequate for the purpose. Because of this problem, trucks have to be parked on the Highway itself, which creates traffic congestion in other parts of the city.
Revealing another major problem, which often leads to severe traffic congestion on the bridge, the DCP said that even a minor accident on the bridge leads to serious problem. Moreover, every day, a few vehicles break down on the top of the bridge, which also compounds the problem. He revealed that two cranes are deployed on both sides of the bridge to remove vehicles whenever necessary, but it takes at least 30 minutes to remove even a small vehicle from the bridge. In such a scenario, the traffic congestion remains for at least a couple of hours. There have been days when at least four to five vehicles had to be removed from the bridge with cranes and in such cases, the traffic chaos lasted almost for the entire day.
The only way out at this moment is to wait for the completion of the second bridge over the Brahmaputra and the State Government should put pressure on the Centre to ensure early completion of the same.
