“Both the stretches would be closed for construction of new roads. One road at Orange City Street would be constructed by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and the other by the state public works department,” said a senior police official from Nagpur traffic branch.
The traffic department has already given its no objection certificates on January 22 and were allowed to restrict traffic on both the roads for 90 days and 120 days, respectively. Work on these roads many start anytime soon, it is learnt.
Traffic cops informed that at present 11 major infrastructure works are under way at different traffic zones — Sitabuldi, Sadar, Sonegaon, Lakadganj, Cotton Market and Sakkardara.
The situation at all places where works are going on, especially Munje Chowk to Mehadia Square, Kadbi Chowk, Residency Road, Law College to Wadi road are already chock-a-block while traffic diversions in many other areas throw the vehicular into disarray.
DCP (traffic) Shashikant Satao confirmed to TOI that infra works like flyovers, railway overbridge and cement road works are leading to slow movement of vehicles. Several roads are also being dug up by other agencies like NMC’s water works department and telecom companies to lay pipelines and telephone cables, he pointed out.
TOI has reported that 44.48km at 15 roads would be dug for laying pipelines under Amrut 2.0 scheme.
Though traffic police have diverted the vehicular movement on these roads, motorists are not happy with the restrictions. They say there is no check on progress of infra works, most of which are going at snail’s pace.
A railway overbridge (RoB) was approved on the busy Kadbi Chowk-Mominpura stretch over two years ago. Since then, it was partially open for light motor vehicles and two-wheelers. Now, the road has been completely closed to facilitate speedy construction of the three-arm RoB.
Adding to the woes is the decision to allow closure of road between LIC Square and Gaddigodam to pave way for landing of the flyover on Kamptee road. Consequently, motorists heading towards central and east Nagpur from north Nagpur are being diverted either from Pachpaoli RoB or from Residency Road to Kingsway via Ram Jhula. This detour has increased travel time, said Pradeep Trivedi, a resident of Dixit Nagar in north Nagpur.
During a visit to north Nagpur, TOI experienced that the closure of two roads on Kamptee road — Kadbi Chowk to Mominpura and LIC Square to Gaddigodam have thrown traffic out of gear on roads like Residency Road, Link Roads etc.
Motorists in north Nagpur are being told to use Sadar Residency road to move towards LIC square and beyond. Similarly, vehicles heading towards Kamptee road are being diverted from Residency Road.
Similar traffic restrictions were also placed in other places to pave the way for smooth infra works. Besides, diversions and detours are consuming a lot of time for those moving from west to south Nagpur or from west Nagpur to central Nagpur.
Though several alternative routes are available, people are unable to use them because of road closures at LIC square and Kadbi Chowk. This forces motorists to pass through Zero Mile, which is already cluttered.
The undergoing construction of two bridges on Nag river — near Panchsheel Square and another near University Library square — has hit the traffic hard on several roads, especially the East High Court Road and Panchsheel Square-Munje Chowk via Mehadia Square.
TOI also noticed that to save time, some motorists drive on the wrong side and even traffic cops ignore the violations.