EM Bypass: KMDA to convert two culverts into pedestrian underpasses

Kolkata: In a significant stride towards ensuring road safety, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) is converting two abandoned culverts on EM Bypass into pedestrian underpasses.

“There was a time when EM Bypass had canals on both sides of the road and these culverts would channelise water through it. However, with the development of human habitation, the culverts have become ineffective. The residents have converted them into dumping grounds and we are struggling to maintain them. We have decided to transform the two culverts into pedestrian underpasses,” said a senior official of KMDA. The official added that cleaning work of the culverts have already been taken up and the drawings of the proposed underpasses are also in progress. The locations of the two will be at Uttar Panchanna Gram close to the Trinamool Congress party office which is presently being reconstructed while the other one will be near Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute.

Two staircases will be created on either side of the culverts and the tunnel will be extended for linking both sides, a KMDA engineer said. The estimated cost for the project will be a little over Rs 2 crore for each. The proposed length of the underpasses will be 50 feet and the width will be 10 feet.

“The EM Bypass Road is heavily congested and the volume of traffic is too heavy. Pedestrian movement will be safer once the two underpasses are complete,” the official said.

Previously, KMDA had transformed an abandoned culvert at Kalikapur into an underpass. At present, there are two such underpasses, one at Hyatt crossing close to Subhas Sarovar and another at Beliaghata crossing from where vehicles take a right turn for Salt Lake. There are plans to construct more underpasses along EM Bypass for facilitating pedestrian movement.