EM Bypass: KMC to replace LED with warm white lights

Kolkata: The Lighting department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will replace the existing LED and vapour lights on EM Bypass with warm white light. The entire stretch from Ultadanga till Dhalai Bridge in Garia will have this type of light which does not blur visibility even during dense fog.

“Fog, particularly in the early morning, is a common phenomenon in the Bypass stretch where the speed of the vehicles is usually higher, increasing chances of accidents. We have checked the efficiency of warm white lights and found it effective even in dense fog.

We need to install 8000 lights in the 16 km long EM Bypass stretch,” Sandip Ranjan Bakshi, Member Mayor in Council (Lighting and Electricity) said.

Warm white light emits light yellow colour which is best during fog because it hits the retina in a way that enables a person to focus

on the road. A Lighting department official said that installation will begin post KMC budget which is expected to have a reasonable allocation for the Lighting department.

The EM Bypass was under the maintenance of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) and was brought under KMC in November 2022. In September 2023, the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department issued an order on the handover of all bridges, flyovers, culverts, underpasses and foot overbridges, a total of 37, to the civic body. Among these, the major ones are Ultadanga flyover, Chingrighata flyover, Ambebedkar bridge, Baghajatin ROB (rail overbridge), Dhalai bridge, Chingrighata FOB (foot overbridge) and culvert, Beliaghata underpass, Hyatt underpass and Science City underpass.

KMC also plans to iron out undulations on the road and build drainage lines and conduits under the service roads so that utility lines can be shifted.