The City’s Traffic Woes

What we predicted about Guwahati’s traffic problems about three decades ago has come true. We had said that, being uble to move, the traffic would remain stilled on the streets. With motor vehicles increasing at the rate of about 5,050 every month, without any increase in road surfaces, we have been creating hellish scerios on our streets every day. But what has made the situation much worse than it need have been is the inept magement of the city’s traffic. An increase of 5,050 vehicles every month works out to an increase of over 60,000 vehicles in a year and over 300,000 vehicles every five years. This is an intolerable situation for any city and much worse for one that is uble to increase its road surface. Since there is no space for more roads, we are obliged to provide altertive routes with the help of flyovers. We have done very little in this regard. What we have done is to use one lane of all the roads that were designed for two-lane traffic as parking space. And some traffic expert, with no regard for increased fuel costs, has blocked most of the gaps that were used for U-turns, compelling motorists to traverse long distances to make the uvoidable U-turn to reach home. This is no traffic magement. It compels a vehicle to use a road surface much longer than is necessary in order to make an uvoidable U-turn. Good traffic magement has to find ways of keeping vehicles on scarce road surfaces for as short durations as possible. The other major failures of traffic magement are the ibility to provide the required number of traffic policemen at busy intersections and to provide safety for pedestrians by having an increased number of zebra crossings. Efficient traffic magement must take into consideration the needs of pedestrians too.