Entering the metropolitan city of Kolkata via the western highways through the Kona Expressway can be a nightmare for motorists, especially after sundown. The 7.8 km stretch from Nibra, which initiates from the highway and continues up to Vidyasagar Setu, is found to reel under a state of traffic anarchy. With few options left, motorists are forced to fight their way out every single day while returning to their homes in the city. In this issue, Team WHEELS reports the Kona Expressway traffic menace and suggests bypasses that motorists can avail for faster movements.

With the completion of the Golden Quadrilateral in 2012 connecting the four major metro cities of India, viz. Delhi in the north, Kolkata in the east, Chennai in the south, and Mumbai in the west and passing through numerous other cities, the inbound road traffic to Kolkata has multiplied manifold. Not only has the number of commercial vehicles skyrocketed, but the count of passenger vehicles, be it for business or pleasure, has swelled too. Sadly, Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, is still not ready for the vehicular traffic entering through the highways – NH-16 (NH-6), NH-19 (NH-2). Consequently, all the entrances to the metro city continue to remain narrow and choked.

The inbound traffic entering the North Kolkata via NH-19 (NH-2), invariably comes to a standstill at Nibedita Setu. The movement thereafter continues to suffer further down till Jessore Road near the airport.

Similarly, movement is clogged at Dunlop Morh and Barrackpore Trunk Road (BT Road) making the drive to Shyambazar a daily ordeal.

Likewise, to enter South or Central Kolkata, the inbound highway traffic has to opt for the Kona Expressway. This entails negotiating with the huge commercial vehicles after 8 pm, battling for road space and crawling through the unmanned traffic controls, to finally sneak into the city.

What’s most frustrating is when a motorist, after having cruised over hundreds of kilometres on the wide and speedy highways, has to crawl and come to a grinding halt on the Kona Expressway, at night, just as he is about to enter Kolkata!

In his desperation to reach home, the motorist is left with no other option but to curse the city authorities for the torturous conditions close to home. So near and yet so far!

Although called an ‘Expressway’ as it was a highway planned for carrying high speed traffic, the Kona Expressway lost its National Highway tag in 2008 for obvious reasons.

Factors Responsible

• Santragachi Bridge: The traffic plan on the whole of Kona Expressway has been designed to cope with the 1 up 1 down traffic movement on the narrow Santragachi Bridge – giving rise to the choking on the Kona Expressway.

• 5-2-1: On Vidyasagar Setu, there are 5 lanes designated for entering the Kona Expressway that narrows down to 2 lanes on the Expressway itself and further wriggles down to just 1 lane on the Santragachi Bridge for the upward traffic. As a result, there is an obvious bottleneck on Kona Expressway, leading to a huge time loss for many.

• Commercial Vehicles: After 8 pm, large number of goods vehicles start entering the city through the Kona Expressway. As a result, the load on the traffic increases manifold, with the vehicles competing with one another to wriggle through the congestion, aggravating the situation even further.

• Lack of active supervision: As the day draws to a close, traffic guardians on the Kona Expressway seem to perform a disappearing act. Barring a few major junctions, the chaotic traffic movement is left to the mercy of traffic signals with practically no active police supervision. The traffic police becomes literally invisible at night, with no one to watch over the thousands of vehicles moving along the Expressway.

Stop-Gap Measures

• Instead of widening the 1-up 1-down Santragachi Bridge, which is the actual traffic blocker, portions of Kona Expressway has been divided into 3-laned traffic channels near the Kona Truck Terminus followed by 2-laned traffic channels before the Santragachi Bridge. The channels are controlled by automated sequential traffic signals, opening one at a time, to decongest the traffic before the bridge.

• Under the circumstances, each channel is opened hardly for 4-5 minutes. While one channel is open, traffic in the other 2 channels has to wait for 10 to 12 minutes before they get their turn for passage. Sadly, the whole traffic movement gets stalled in the event of a VIP passage or faulty signal. However, Team WHEELS believes, with the present width of the Santragachi Bridge and the ever increasing pressure of traffic, this unique signalling system seems to be the only way to manage the traffic.

• A much needed relief has been introduced in the form of a high concrete divider which has reduced the earlier influx of local pedestrians crossing the road from the side lanes.

Service Lanes On Kona Expressway
Finally, work for the much-needed service lanes on Kona Expressway has begun which would facilitate the movement of passenger vehicles and motorbikes.

The addition of service lanes on Kona Expressway is presently visible on both sides. Moving further west from Vidyasagar Setu, it starts just beyond the junction of Drainage Canal Road and continues up to the ascent of Santragachi Bridge.

Moving westbound, the new set of dedicated lanes has already been added in front of Santragachi Station. This has helped ease out the heavy congestion on the Kona Expressway.

The widening would also include a flyover in front of the Santragachi Bus Terminus which is supposed to act as the main bus terminus for Kolkata, after the High Court’s order to remove the Esplanade Bus Terminus.

According to Shibshankar Karmakar, Assistant Engineer, PWD (National Highway Division) – Incharge of the service lane project, the completion of the railway underpass at Garpha-Unsani Crossing near Lake Land Country Club to be undertaken by the railway authorities has been the main reason for the constriction of the traffic movement apart from Santragachi Bridge. He explains that the service lanes would not only facilitate the traffic movement for passenger vehicles from August 2020 on its completion but would also help the execution of the planned elevated corridor over Kona Expressway.

Elevated Corridor
The plan of an elevated corridor over the Kona Expressway is underway by the West Bengal Highway Development Corporation. The initial plan and the work of land acquisition are presently in progress. Once completed, the traffic woes on Kona Expressway will become a matter of the past.

One may wonder, what makes the accomplishment of every advancement or plan such an uphill task in our city – often despite every good intention? Is this the practice just in Kolkata alone or is it true for every other big city the world over? Or at least in the third world countries? Where do we stand as of today? Do we call ours a developing country, a third world, a driving force – we are still not sure. But what is admirable is that this dynamic city is not made up of ‘sticks and stones’ – it is a burgeoning heaving breathing mass of completely invested souls. Souls who will, if necessary, carry its beloved far pavilions on their sunbaked underfed dusty shoulders to glory. Even if a mere highway – in a ‘kona’ or otherwise – we shall overcome!!

Faster Bypasses
To save time, one may try the following bypasses of Kona Expressway, depending on the highway that one is approaching Kolkata from.

From NH-19 (NH-2) > Salap – Makardah Road – Drainage Canal Road
(10.1 km – 25 min approx)
Approaching Kolkata from Dankuni, turn left from Salap Crossing on NH-16 (NH-6), enter Makardah Road at Bankra and follow the road over Balitikuri and Dasnagar. Turn right at Drainage Canal Road (Dr. Bholanath Chakraborty Sarani) passing by Dumurjala Stadium on left. Meet Kona Expressway and turn left for Vidyasagar Setu.

From NH-16 (NH-6) > Alampur – Andul Road – Vidyasagar Setu
(12.3 km – 28 min approx)
Approaching Kolkata from Dhulagori Toll Plaza, take the Service Lane on NH-16 (NH-6) and continue towards Alampur. Turn right into Andul Road from the underpass at Alampur and proceed through Sankrail, Andul, Mourigram, Chunavati and Botanical Garden to reach the Vidyasagar Setu directly.