The Metropolitan crossing on EM Bypass will be handed over to the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) by next week for the construction of two pillars for the New Garia-Airport metro link along the eastern corridor.
Pillar numbers 286 and 287 are key for the construction of the proposed Beleghata station along the metro route and one of them is set to come up right at the centre of the Metropolitan crossing on EM Bypass, with Bypass Dhaba located on one side.
The other one will be constructed around 25 metres from this pillar towards Chingrighata, along the median of the Bypass.
The spots around the proposed pillars were barricaded as part of a traffic trial to understand the impact on vehicle flow once the site is handed over to RVNL.
On Friday, a week into the traffic trial, police officers said the tweaks in traffic signals and other changes made at the Metropolitan intersection and its adjoining areas were working effectively.
“We have decided to hand over the site on EM Bypass to the Metro authorities for constructing the two pillars. The officials have said they would require at least 45 days for each pillar,” said a senior police officer at Lalbazar. “We will initially hand over the site for three months.”
As part of the traffic trial, the police stopped vehicles from taking Bypass from the road adjoining the dhaba. Instead, the vehicles were made to move along a service road further north towards Chingrighata from where motorists could take a turn to reach the Bypass.
“Traffic signals have been synchronised so that these vehicles can also merge with the ones headed towards Science City. Traffic officers have been accordingly deployed at this new crossover point,” said a senior officer of the Beleghata traffic guard.
The traffic trial revealed peak-hour traffic towards Chingrighata from Science City has not been a challenge despite the two spots being barricaded. The challenge has been to maintain the
flow of vehicles headed towards Science City along the south-bound flank of the
Bypass.
“The flank meant for Science City-bound vehicles hasn’t been widened unlike that on the other side where the road space has been increased. There is a constriction in the flank for the south-bound vehicles where vehicles have to slow down,” the officer said.
“We have requested RVNL to construct an iron bridge on the southern side of the Metropolitan crossing to address the issue.”
The RVNL has already handed back to cops the Chingrighata crossing that was earlier barricaded for constructing another pillar.