3 yrs on, black spots identified on BRTS lane not rectified yet

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, February 2

The black spots identified by traffic experts on the BRTS lane three years ago have not been rectified yet. Road accidents on the BRTS lane have become a routine affair. Earlier, there was a check on the entry of other vehicles in the BRTS corridor. But around eight months ago, restrictions on entry of other vehicle in the BRTS route have been removed.

A committee, constituted by the state government, had identified nine black spots on the 31-km-long BRTS corridor in August 2019. Black spots were identified at Bhandari Bridge, the BRTS station outside the railway station, Valmiki Chowk, Putligarh Chowk, Civil Hospital, Ramtalai Chowk, Husainpura Chowk, Mall Mandi Chowk and outside Alpha Mall. Traffic load at Bhandari Bridge has eased after the construction of another railway bridge. Other spots are still not rectified.

After studying the accidents reported on the BRTS lane, traffic experts had identified nine black spots on the BRTS road in August 2019. There were 30 black spots in the holy city. The committee had written to the Public Works Department (PWD) to take appropriate action to prevent road accidents. The PWD authorities did not pay heed to the recommendations of the traffic advisor.

The lack of proper signage, reflectors and other safety infrastructure led to accidents on the BRTS corridor. Grills on the BRTS corridor are missing at several places. Some broken grills are lying along the road, leading to accidents. Navdeep Asija, Traffic Advisor, Punjab, said, “On an average, eight accidental deaths are reported on the BRTS corridor every year.”

The police department along with civic body authorities recently planned to install boom barriers in the BRTS lane. These barriers would be opened with sensors installed in the BRTS buses. As a pilot project, four boom barriers will be installed at the Batala Road BRTS flyover from Celebration Mall to the Verka bypass chowk and vice versa. If succeeded, it would be installed on other routes also.