Vijayawada: The citizens of Vijayawada are spending more than six hours at various traffic junctions, almost everyday.
Gurunanak junction, Nirmala convent junction, 5 number route, Dr NTR health University junction and Benz circle are the points where traffic gets stuck from 8 am to 12 noon, and again from 5 pm to 10 pm daily. Despite efforts of the traffic police, there has been no improvement in the situation at these places.
It has been decided to augment the capacity of the Vijayawada-Gundugolanu section of NH-5 in AP by widening the existing 4-lane to 6-lane divided carriageway facility, including 6-lane Hanuman Junction bypass and 4-lane Vijayawada bypass.
The delay in taking decisions and executing the same has become the root cause for the traffic problems in Vijayawada.
It takes 14 minutes for a a two-wheeler coming from Gannavaram to move ahead of the Ramavarappadu Ring signal and 9 minutes to cross the Dr. NTR Health University junction, 18 minutes to cross the Gurunanak junction and 22 minutes to leave the Benz circle traffic signal in the peak hours.
However, traffic police are able to regulate the traffic at Sitara junction, and Chittinagar, to pave way for the vehicles coming from Hyderabad.
While the delay by Gammon in executing the works is one of the reasons for traffic snarls in the city, the frequent traffic jams occurring between Benz Circle to Ramavarappadu Ring are due to lack of planning of the VMC. The officials can devise plans to overcome the situation.
