THE GOAN NETWORK
PORVORIM
Faced with severe traffic chaos and mounting anger among motorists along the highway, the Traffic police finally put back the barricades at O’Coqueiro Junction in Porvorim on Thursday, less than a month after they were removed on a trial basis.
Following demands from residents of Defence colony and areas surrounding B B Borkar road in Porvorim, Revenue Minister and Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte had asked the Traffic Police to remove the barricades on April 10, to allow traffic from B B Borkar road to proceed towards Sangolda and Mapusa on a trial basis.
The removal of barricades, however, immediately caused traffic chaos along the busy junction.
With the shortened green signal timings to accommodate traffic from B B Borkar road, motorists plying along the highway between Mapusa and Panaji were held up in long queues.
Following criticism from motorists, Khaunte along with the DySP Dharmesh Angle, Traffic Inspector Chimulkar and PWD Asst Engineer Eduard Pereira inspected the O'Coqueiro Junction on April 12 and reviewed traffic movement.
Khaunte then suggested a reduction in pulse timings of traffic signals from 40 seconds to 37 seconds along the Panjim-Mapusa and Mapusa- Panjim roads, reduction from 30 seconds to 25 along the Sangolda“Porvorim road and a reduction from 20 seconds to 15 seconds along the B B Borkar“Sangolda road.
The traffic police accordingly reduced the pulse timing of the traffic signals on four sides, but this only caused further traffic chaos along the Holy Family Church junction.
Authorities soon realised that when the traffic signal at O'Coqueiro Junction flashed red, vehicles would queue along the Mapusa“Panjim road and by the time the signal turned green, the queue would reach up to the Holy Family Church junction.
As a result, vehicles at the Holy Family Church signal could not proceed ahead even though there was a green signal. This, in turn, blocked vehicles proceeding between the Defence colony road, Sangolda and Mapusa.
With the traffic chaos intensifying at both busy junctions, barely a few hundred metres apart from each other, and the growing resentment among the stranded motorists, the Traffic Police officials called on Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte at his office in the Secretariat on May 2 and highlighted the traffic problems.
On getting a nod from Khaunte, the traffic police restored the barricades at O'Coqueiro Junction on Thursday morning.
