DECONGESTION ONLY POSSIBLE BY DIVERTING TRAFFIC: EXPERTS

LUCKNOW:The Hussainganj-Sikanderbagh stretch was originally twolane and remained unchanged till the 1990s — the decade when vehicle population in Lucknow began to swell drastically, said old timers.

This forced the town planners to widen the road. As per the traffic study by an infra firm in 1997, the stretch then used to have a load of over 13,000 passenger car units (PCU).

In 2001, the boundary walls of Vidhan Bhawan and other buildings on the stretch were either razed or pushed back to pave way for the increased vehicular movement and the stretch was eventually transformed into a four-lane one.

This came as a big relief to commuters. But the relief was short lived as the vehicular population kept growing and added to the woes of commuters.

However, the town planners didn’t give up. In 2002, they again proposed an elevated road on the stretch, rising from Sikanderbagh to Charbagh via Vidhan Bhawan. But their idea was soon turned down by security agencies, citing a threat for Vidhan Bhawan.

“I still remember the plan for an elevated road, which we floated way back in 2002. I was posted as vicechairman of Lucknow Development Authority. But the proposal never saw the light of the day. And now even if the government wants, the plan cannot be executed following the underground Metro work,” recollects Diwakar Tripathi, former V-C of LDA and representative of union home minister Rajnath Singh.

If experts are to be believed, the only way left to decongest traffic on this route is to divert traffic on other routes. “This could be achieved only after the Kukrail flyover becomes operational. It will directly connect the ring road with Gomti barrage thus reducing travel time by over 30 minutes. The flyover will also allow people from Jankipuram and Aliganj to reach the station and airport via ring road,” said Anshul Verma, an expert in metropolitan traffic management.

He said this will bring a slight relief to the grim traffic situation. “Traffic in big metros like Mumbai is distributed on different routes or to parallel routes made along important roads. But this is not the case yet in Lucknow. The situation in Lucknow can change if this principal of traffic distribution is put in place,” said Ravi Shankar Nim, SP (traffic), Lucknow.