Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was at pains to explain that the State administration is drawing up a comprehensive plan to contain and reduce the traffic flow through the arterial Porvorim stretch when the work on the flyover gets underway.
In comments made via a Doordarshan programme, the Chief Minister suggested that alternate routes are being considered and that some people will be encouraged to use ferry services, heavy traffic will be diverted via Banda to Assonora, others will be asked to choose alternate routes -- though there was no specific mention of what these alternate routes will be.
There is no doubt that the management of traffic during the construction of the flyover, which is expected to start at the end of January, poses a formidable challenge. The route represented a bottleneck even during weekdays during rush hour and weekends throughout the day. The route being the most convenient that connects the State capital with the tourism beach belt of Candolim-Calangute-Anjuna as well as the town of Mapusa has no real alternatives to ease off the gridlock.
To the west, the old road that runs has several narrow stretches where traffic is held up even when these roads do not have the additional burden of carrying traffic diverted from Porvorim. Similarly to the east the road that runs via Britona and Salvador do Mundo is similarly very narrow for stretches at Britona where two vehicles cannot pass at a time. Atop the plateau, the sole alternate route is the one via Defence Colony which is also narrow and has been repeatedly choked every time vehicles attempted to use the alternate route to try and avoid the packed main road.
Indeed, the statement of the government providing alternate routes without listing them out does not inspire confidence that the government has a workable plan in place to help manage the traffic for the two to three years it will take to complete this project. Not to mention the risks that are involved in allowing traffic to continue running under while the flyover is being built overhead.
The State is littered with examples of infrastructure projects completely upending lives for years on end. It wasn’t too long ago when the construction of the 3rd Mandovi Bridge created such severe traffic jams that it would take three hours to traverse from Porvorim to Panjim. This continued from 2014 till 2019 when the bridge was finally inaugurated. The traffic jams at Cortalim and Agassaim are all too recent to need reminding.
Traffic jams not only prove an inconvenience to commuters and possibly fatal delays to emergency services, but they also affect businesses. Ask any Panaji businessman about the effects of the unending smart city works has had on his bottom line and the answer will be clear. Similarly, the prolonged works to construct a sewerage system in Baga-Calangute that began in 2012 caused years of losses to businesses along what is arguably, Goa’s densest business street and the epicentre of the state’s tourism industry.
It is imperative that the State administration makes public the alternate route and plans that they propose to implement ahead of the works commencing and seek inputs and feedback from local stakeholders, businesses and residents who live along the streets the plan to divert the traffic along. Failure to do so may lead to greater chaos making it a terrible experience for everyone.
