BHUBANESWAR: Commuting on the eight-km NH-5 stretch from Rasulgarh to Baramunda has become a nightmare for people. With the national highway expansion and flyover construction works being undertaken from last year, travelling on this stretch has turned out to be a difficult proposition. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had earlier decided to six-lane the NH from Baramunda to Rasulgarh, build five flyovers, a number of underpasses for vehicles and pedestrians as well as service lanes along the highway. Work is at present being carried out at Rasulgarh, Vani Vihar, Acharya Vihar, CRPF Square and Fire Station. Sources said over 5,000 vehicles pass through the NH daily and ever since the work started, covering a mere distance of 8 km takes at least 45 minutes instead of the usual 20 minutes it used to take earlier. The delay is mostly because of diversions and barricades that have been erected at various traffic junctions to facilitate construction works. The situation is worse during peak hours. The wait at some traffic points is painful as the commuter is stranded for several minutes to cross the road. Besides traffic congestion, commuters have to deal with dust pollution. Sources said a number of accidents too have taken place on the Vani Vihar-Baramunda stretch due to alleged irregular traffic management ever since the work began. Admitting to the problem, a senior official of the Commissionerate Traffic said traffic congestion is also due to increase in the volume of vehicles in the city. State Project Director of NHAI Aditya Kumar Ray said the six-laning of the NH stretch and the flyover works are likely to be over by June 2015. “We are aware of traffic congestion at various points and in talks with traffic police for smooth flow of vehicles. Once the construction works are over, 50 per cent of the traffic problems will be sorted out. The waiting time in all these busy intersections will be reduced to zero,” he added.
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