the goan I network
VASCO
Almost a regular affair, motorists are fuming about the traffic jams witnessed at Cortalim circle as the 5-km route between Cortalim Circle and Agasaim now takes as long as 45 minutes to traverse.
Thousands of motorists were seen simmering with rage on Sunday after having been caught up in a massive traffic jam which lasted for several hours on the route between Goa Velha and Cortalim as teams from Goa Police and Traffic Police struggled to regulate the queue,
The traffic jam at Cortalim is almost a daily affair now with people who travel on a daily basis between Panjim to Vasco and Margao wasting precious hours stuck in traffic.
With several speeding taxis and 2-wheelers aggravating the situation by jumping the queue and creating bottlenecks along the route, utter chaos prevailed at Cortalim Circle as traffic was paralysed on all four sides, including the small access road towards Loutolim.
“Peak hours see a lot of traffic and DBL must ensure that they stop movement of their trucks and cranes at least during this time. Secondly, there is a lot of dust pollution at this area and people who wait for buses near Cortalim Circle, which is incidentally without a bus stop, are exposed to this dust. Same for the traffic police officials who work in dusty situations without masks,” said a motorist Rock D’Costa.
“This particular junction has become a bottle-neck and we struggle here everyday. There should be proper control of the situation and though the traffic police are aware of this bottleneck, I request them to man this junction instead of other locations along the route,” said another motorist Ramesh Divkar
According to Umesh Lamani, a taxi driver, there is chaos and traffic jam every evening. “We are taking passengers in and out of the airports and many-a-times passengers miss their flights. It took me 55 minutes to cross Agassaim from Cortalim circle on Friday evening,” he said.
A source in Vasco Traffic cell said that as per a recent survey, there are as many as 35 vehicles that move to and from the Cortalim area per minute during normal days, which can rise during peak season.
“If around 70 vehicles (35 on either side of the road) are moving per minute at peak hours, it is hard to control traffic during a jam. In case of an accident, even if traffic halts for five minutes we have as many as 350 vehicles lined up and wanting to move, causing further chaos,” said the source.
Bad roads, accidents, bottlenecks and indisciplined drivers to blame: Police
VASCO: Police officials attributed the major traffic jam between Goa Velha and Cortalim to ongoing roadworks, some road mishaps, bad roads and bottlenecks along the route.
When contacted, Vasco Traffic Police Inspector Suraj Samant said the major traffic jam was because of bad roads and vehicles not following
discipline.
Samant said that they have already written to DBL and PWD to take up works on the road prior to monsoons.
“Due to ongoing construction works, there are several bottlenecks created at Cortalim junction. Besides there is no patience and vehicular discipline and every vehicle wants to overtake the another without following lane discipline which makes matters worse. Sometimes there are a few accidents that occur during peak hours which lead to piling up of vehicles and huge lines are witnessed,” said Samant.
“Due to construction works, roads levels are irregular and hence vehicles slow down and again there is a pile up. We have already spoken to DBL and PWD authorities to level the stretch of the road and even hot mix it before monsoons to avoid further chaos,” said Samant.
