Elevated road project: Now, road over Ludhiana’s Sidhwan canal also closed to traffic
Earlier, the portion of the road from Bhai Bala to Bharat Nagar was barricaded and the traffic has been shifted to a slip road in Ludhiana
At a time when the under-construction portion of the Ferozepur road already faces regular traffic jams, the commuters are set to take another hit as the Sidhwan canal-South city traffic point will be diverted towards alternative routes due to the ongoing construction of Elevated Road Project. The diversions will remain in place for the coming three weeks.
Traffic coming from Bharat Nagar chowk will be diverted towards the round bridge at the Southern bypass, meanwhile traffic heading towards the chowk will be diverted to the south city road from Thursday onwards, said traffic police officials.
The commuters will have to take roundabouts at the bridges over the canal on alternative roads and the commuters going towards Bharat Nagar chowk will cross the canal using narrow bridges on the south city road.
The move will create congestion and traffic bottlenecks on the bridges which are around 100 meters away. Traffic officials said to give commuters a respite only each side of the stretch over the canal will be blocked alternatively.
With the work to place the girders at pillars entering the final stages, the vehicular movement from the Jagraon bridge towards the bus stand and Ferozepur road has been affected. Plumes of dust and construction residue have become a regular nuisance on the commercial lane along with traffic bottlenecks.
Manish Singla, a resident of Agar Nagar said he leaves his residence 15 minutes early to be at his workplace on time in case he gets stuck at Bharat Nagar and Bhai Bala chowk. He added that the work which had been going on at a sluggish pace for the last five years has been started at all major traffic points at the same time.
The road over the Sidhwan canal is used by a huge number of residents in various parts of the city, including BRS Nagar, Sarabha Nagar and Agar Nagar, and also sees a huge rush of vehicles coming from nearby towns and villages like Jagraon, Mullapur, Moga etc.
Rajeev Sharma, a resident of south city said he uses the dilapidated Southern bypass road regularly to drive towards his textile unit in Sahnewal. As the traffic from the Ferozepur road will be diverted towards this side commuters’ misery is set to rise, he added.
Assistant commissioner of police, (ACP, traffic) Charanjit Lamba said earlier in spite of blocking both sides, the authorities have agreed to block the roads on alternate days. He added that this will make the traffic manageable and save the commuters from harassment. Moreover, traffic police personnel will be deployed to manage the flow of traffic.
Meanwhile, the issue of plumes of dust has been conveyed to the National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) officials, who said that sprinkling will be done.
