(Elevated road construction) First day of closure Ludhiana: Chaos, confusion prevail as Bharat Nagar Chowk closed
The intersection has been closed for traffic for nearly two months due to an ongoing construction of the elevated road
The city traffic completely went out of gear due to the closure of Bharat Nagar Chowk, the main intersection of the city, on Monday for two months for the construction of the elevated road.
The intersection has been closed for traffic for nearly two months due to an ongoing construction of the elevated road. The closure resulted in huge traffic jams on diverted routes, leaving commuters stranded on the roads for hours.
The route of the passenger buses was also diverted to Gill road. The buses coming from Ferozepur Road would reach Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar Inter-state Bus Terminal from Gill Road from the southern bypass and vice versa.
Some of the bus drivers, who tried to take a short cut to reach Ferozepur Road from ESIC road, Kochar Market, Sat Paul Mittal Road (Malhar Road), were stopped by the police. According to police, the ESIC road is strictly for two-wheelers and cars.
The impact of closing the intersection point had a cascading effect on the flow of traffic on multiple key roads, including Mall Road, Club Road, Sham Nagar Road, near Fountain Chowk, Kochar Market Road, Bus Stand Road, and several other routes.
Commuters were left confused as they were not adequately informed about the alternate routes. However, the diverted routes, intended to provide relief for the commuters, turned into bottlenecks choked with traffic.
The intersection point near Shri Durga Mata Mandir and the route leading to Sham Nagar near Division Number 5 Police Station proved to be the major bottlenecks during this traffic ordeal.
With the stretch from Durga Mata Mandir Chowk to Bharat Nagar Chowk closed, commuters from the Jagraon Bridge side were either redirected towards Club Road or forced to take a U-turn to access Sham Nagar Road and reach the bus stand. Similarly, commuters from Club Road were also compelled to head towards Sham Nagar Road in order to access the main bus stand road.
This caused significant chaos on the already congested 30-feet-wide Sham Nagar Road, as traffic flowed from both directions.
Ashok Sharma, a resident of Sham Nagar, said that his residential area experienced tremendous traffic congestion. “Not only did it disturb the peaceful environment, but it also made it extremely difficult for residents to leave their homes. The failure of traffic management following the closure of Bharat Nagar Chowk raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of planning in tackling such situations,” he said.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, Traffic) Sameer Verma said that three out of four roads have been closed at the Bharat Nagar Chowk due to the ongoing construction work of elevated road at the site and the work at this site is expected to continue for around two months.
He said that the traffic department has designed a traffic diversion plan. The department will observe the movement of traffic as per the plan for 2-3 days and will make required changes accordingly.
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