The 1pm changeover of traffic flow on Park Street and other adjacent roads could take a break.
Police want to see what if the change doesn’t take place. The trigger for trying the new system is the assessment that a wider Park Street is better equipped to handle the flow of traffic towards the city from the Parama flyover than Theatre Road.
Sources said the new move could be tested sometime in December.
Calcutta police are planning to change the existing system of traffic direction changeover on Park Street and its adjoining roads from 1pm and test if the change will help cops to strike a balance between the traffic in the south Calcutta school district and vehicular movement on the Parama flyover.
At present, the direction of the traffic movement on Park Street, Theatre Road and Camac Street are reversed at 1pm. As the time of the changeover almost clashes with the dispersal timings of the schools in the area, traffic movement is affected both on these stretches and the Parama flyover.
If the change is implemented, west-bound vehicles moving towards Chowringhee Road that take Parama flyover from the EM Bypass end will be able to ply through Park Street to reach the city centre instead of travelling on Theatre Road. Similarly, vehicles approaching Parama flyover from the city will have to reach Park Circus either through Theatre Road or directly connect to Parama flyover through the AJC Bose Road flyover.
Asked, Calcutta police commissioner Anuj Sharma told Metro: “We are thinking about the project. The pros and cons of the changeover are being discussed.”
Sources said, the trigger behind the proposed change was the challenge posed because of the city-bound afternoon traffic on Parama flyover and the simultaneous vehicular pressure on the roads because dispersal time of most schools overlap.
“We have tried staggered timings (of dispersal) in the schools to reduce the number of vehicles on the road during the dispersal. But practically staggered timings will help only when guardians follow the rules very strictly. We expect the pick-up vehicles to reach the school only a few minutes before their dispersal time. But practically most of the vehicles reach before time and keep circling the area increasing traffic congestion,” said a traffic cop.
As a result, traffic congestion is often reported on Theatre Road, Park Street and in the Park Circus area that directly affects the movement of vehicles on Parama flyover between 1.30pm and 2.30pm, sources in the traffic department said.
An officer said the ramp that connects the Parama flyover to the AJC Bose Road flyover is useful to ease the pressure off the Parama flyover, but the tail of the queuing vehicles heading towards Park Circus often reaches near Science City (on the Garia-side flank) in the afternoon because of the traffic congestion on Theatre Road-Rawdon Street and Loudon Street on the one hand and Park Street, Minto Park and AJC Bose Road on the other.
Officers said they wanted to explore if the movement of vehicles on the Parama flyover could be improved without affecting the school traffic if the 1pm change of route reversal did not take place on Park Street and Theatre Road.