WESTERN BYPASS SECTIONS CRAVE ATTENTION

MARGAO

Even as villagers of Benaulim continue to wage a long-drawn battle for construction of the 2.75 km balance stretch of the western bypass on stilts, part-commissioned stretches of the 11-km bypass are craving attention.

The stretch between the newly-commissioned Navelim-Benaulim stretch is without street illumination and has no road underpasses at the junctions. The situation is no better in the Northern section between Seraulim and Nuvem, where illumination and underpasses are yet to fall in place to date.

Soon after taking over, newly-appointed PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral sounded sympathetic to the just cause of the Benaulikars in demanding the bypass on stilts passing through the flood plains of river Sal. He, however, has a task at hand – how to make the part-commissioned bypass accident free and provide logistics including illumination and flyovers?

A ride down the Navelim-Benaulim stretch of the Western bypass after sunset would reveal that the stretch has no street illumination at all. Motorists have complained that the entire Navelim-Benaulim is in darkness, making driving difficult after dusk. In fact, the newly-commissioned stretch has already played host to several road accidents.

The situation is no better along the Nuvem-Seraulim stretch of the western bypass. Though the bypass stretch was commissioned around a year ago, playing host to all the national highway traffic, the illumination is yet to become a reality.

Inquiries by The Goan have revealed that the contractor roped in by the PWD, National Highway has just started the work of laying the foundation to erect the street light poles along the Nuvem-Seraulim stretch. If sources are to be believed, it will take some time before the part-commissioned bypass is illuminated.

At the Navelim gram sabha on Sunday, members expressed concern over the rising accidents along the Navelim-Benaulim bypass stretch for want of speed limits.

“There’s no restriction on the speed limits, as a result of which accidents have become a routine affair. There’s no over bridge or flyover at the Bellem junction and neither is the stretch illuminated. We fail to understand why the PWD, NH acted in haste to part-commission the bypass”, gram sabha members ruled.

When The Goan contacted a senior PWD, NH official to shed light on the part-commissioned western bypass sans mandatory provisions such as illumination and speed limits, the official said things would soon fall in place.

The official pointed out that underpasses were not part of the original plan, but were included in the second tender. However, no underpass or flyover has been proposed at the Navelim junction, which has now become an accident-prone zone.

No solution to jams at Nuvem junction

MARGAO

The PWD, national Highways has still not found a solution to the traffic snarls at the junction where the eastern bypass meets the western bypass at Nuvem.

The initial plan by the PWD, NH to channelise the traffic coming from the eastern bypass onto the western bypass via the Nuvem Panchayat ghar was shot down by the Panchayat and former MLA Wilfred D’Siva. Reason: They pointed out that the interior road passing by the Panchayat ghar caters to the intra-village and inter-village traffic, and any move to divert the heavy traffic from the eastern bypass would make the road accident-prone.

Since then, the proposal stands dropped, but traffic flow on the eastern bypass to the western bypass at the Nuvem junction, metres away from the Honda showroom junction, is a scene of traffic snarls.

In fact, even the gradient is not maintained on the eastern bypass road stretch between the Honda showroom junction to the spot where the bypass meets the western bypass.

Motorists pointed out that instead of restricting the speed limit of vehicles on the western-eastern bypass junction, the authorities should find a permanent solution at the meeting point to avert a major mishap.

Nuvem-Seraulim stretch brings traffic via 
wholesale market road creating congestion

MARGAO

Part-commissioning of the Nuvem-Seraulim stretch of the western bypass has brought all the traffic into Margao city via the wholesale fish market road.

The manifold flow of traffic on the wholesale fish market road after the commissioning of the Nuvem-Seraulim bypass stretch has only resulted in traffic snarls and congestion near the La Grace hotel, opposite the District Collectorate building.

With no traffic personnel posted at the junction to regulate traffic flow, serpentine queues of vehicles often line up at the La Grace hotel junction to gain access into the city or to head towards Panjim.

That’s not all. Traffic congestion is also witnessed along the four-lane wholesale fish road, with fish vehicles occupying one lane on both sides of the road. And, with illegal and unauthorized hawkers converting the wholesale fish market road into a hawking zone every morning, traffic snarls are seen on the road during business hours.