New flyover connecting Lake Town to Bangur in the offing to decongest VIP Road

In a bid to further ease out traffic movement on Kazi Nazrul Islam Sarani commonly known as VIP Road, the state government is planning to construct another flyover.

According to the sources in the state Public Works Department, the flyover will come up to connect Lake Town and Bangur on VIP Road. Though the distance between the two places is around 1 km, it is the only stretch on the major thoroughfare connecting Kolkata Airport where traffic congestion is still causing a problem in both morning and evening rush hours. After a change of the guard in the state, the face of VIP Road has been changed by widening the thoroughfare and creating other necessary infrastructure along the road that has helped in minimising traffic congestion.

Despite taking all necessary steps, the concerned authorities have pointed out that the stretch between Lake Town and Bangur is the only bottle neck remaining that might affect traffic movement onthe entire VIP Road. Thus, the necessity of constructing the flyover has been felt, said an official in the state PWD adding that the project might also be funded by the state government.

Both Lake Town and Bangur crossings on VIP Road are the busiest with hundreds of people passing through the area. Besides residential complexes, the area also houses several offices, community halls and markets. Thus, constructing underpasses will not solve the existing problem.

Construction of underpasses will help to reduce the pressure of pedestrians in the area. But the traffic load on the stretch is going up every day and vehicles need to slowdown at the intersections to enter Lake Town and Bangur area from VIP Road which leads to congestions. Before the situation goes out of control and people face much inconvenience, the state government is planning to take necessary steps to ensure easy movement of traffic on VIP Road.

At present, there are three flyovers that connect VIP Road including one from Dum Dum Park to Raghunathpur on the throughfare itself. One that connects VIP Road with Eastern Metropolitan Bypass while the third one connects New Town and VIP Road near Haldiram's crossing.

After the change of guard, underpasses have also been constructed so that people can easily cross the roads and also to reduce traffic congestion. Four more underpasses have been proposed and which would come up at Golaghata, Shreebhumi, Teghoria and Raghunathpur.