Blinking amber lights have been installed at two busy intersections on the EM Bypass-Prince Anwar Shah Road connector and several gaps in the divider blocked with guard rails after a recent traffic survey revealed a sharp rise in the vehicle count on the stretch.

An increasing number of motorists are opting for this 4km road in the city’s southeast, which connects the Bypass with Jadavpur, because of fewer traffic signals compared with some parallel thoroughfares such as the Rashbehari connector.

Barring the constricted Jibananda Setu over railway tracks and the stretch leading to Jadavpur police station, the entire Prince Anwar Shah Road connector offers a smooth ride, according to the survey by the traffic police.

“Blinking amber lights have been installed at two points — near the Bibeknagar crossing, close to Jibananda Setu, and at the Rx Vital intersection,” a senior police officer said.

“The blinking lights will force motorists to slow down and check whether there are pedestrian crossovers. That’s exactly what we want to reduce the chances of accidents.”

Blinking amber lights have been installed on a few stretches of several roads across the city. Drivers are meant to slow down, look at either side and move along while crossing a blinking traffic signal, a senior officer at Traffic Training School of Kolkata Police said.

Free-flowing traffic has posed another challenge for the police managing traffic on the Prince Anwar Shah Road connector.

There are at least five gaps in the divider, some adjacent to big intersections, which attract both pedestrians and vehicles. Vehicles use the gaps for a quick U-turn, while pedestrians walk across the thoroughfare through them.

“Two such gaps — at Sapuipara and Gangulypukur — have been shut with guard rails to prevent pedestrian crossovers and sudden U-turns by vehicles,” the officer said.

“The gaps in the divider did not pose a challenge before. But following the steep rise in the number of vehicles on the road, there is an urgent need to block at least some of them to prevent accidents.”

The Prince Anwar Shah Road connector started attracting heavy traffic as new housing complexes began coming up on the southern fringes of the city.

The city police had in 2022 issued a notification banning parking on either side of the connector, between the Avishikta crossing on EM Bypass and the Jadavpur intersection, barring a few spots.

“Two years after that notification, we have brought in a few more changes. If the volume of traffic grows further, more interventions will be required,” the officer said.