Zirakpur Snarl-ups: Commuting a nightmare on NH

Gaurav Kanthwal

Zirakpur, July 23

Long snarl-ups have become a daily affair on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway from the McDonalds point to the Bhankarpur traffic lights for the past sometime. The 2-km stretch, on which two flyovers are being constructed, has become a sort of bottleneck near Zirakpur.

Being an arterial road, the stretch witnesses heavy traffic during the morning and evening hours on weekdays. Vehicles move at a snail’s pace and it takes roughly 15-20 minutes to cross the Bhankarpur lights from the Metro point in Zirakpur.

Temporary road not wide enough

• Temporary road prepared by NHAI not wide enough to take the heavy rush of traffic
• On the Ambala-Chandigarh side, waterlogging hampers traffic near Singhpura chowk on rainy days
• Sometimes, neither the lights are working nor traffic police man the Bhankarpur spot
• Traffic from the Aerocity Road adds to the rush of vehicles erratically

“Tricity commuters avoid getting trapped on this stretch. One has to think twice whether it is necessary to go for work that side because once you are here, half an hour is easily lost in the crawl,” said Surinder Kumar, a resident of Dera Bassi who commutes to the Zirakpur MC office on weekdays.

Those who commute on this stretch daily feel that the temporary road prepared by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is narrow and not enough to take the heavy rush of traffic. The chaotic traffic at the Bhankarpur light point and the ongoing construction work create a bottleneck there, obstructing a smooth flow of traffic.

It’s a trap

Tricity commuters avoid getting trapped on this stretch. One has to think twice before taking the route because half an hour is easily lost in the crawl. —Surinder Kumar, Commuter

On the Ambala-Chandigarh side, the movement of vehicles is obstructed due to waterlogging near the Singhpura chowk on rainy days. “The width of the road here is not enough to cope with the rush of vehicles,” said Karamjit Singh, a resident of Dhakoli.

Commuters said traffic at the Bhankarpur point remained chaotic, sometimes due to non-functional traffic lights, though the traffic police regulate traffic manually. Sometimes, neither the lights are working nor the police man the spot.

“One reason for the spot becoming a bottleneck is that the traffic from the Aerocity Road adds to the rush of vehicles erratically,” said a traffic cop manning the Bhankarpur lights.

Commuters said minor accidents is a routine affair on this stretch as vehicles move bumper to bumper. “A driver has to be very vigilant here. A minor carelessness can prove costly. Public transport buses and trucks try to rashly overtake vehicles on this stretch as patience wears thin in long snarl-ups.

Zirakpur traffic incharge Rajpal Singh said, “Till the construction work is going on, there may be congestion. However, we are ensuring a steady movement of vehicles. The rainy season does slow down the movement a bit.”