Of late, commuters in the city had to spend more time at some of the busiest intersections waiting for the red light to turn green. The situation worsened during rush hours.

According to the new plan adopted by the Chandigarh Traffic Police to decongest roads, the traffic signals will be switched off during the rush hours. Instead, traffic policemen will manage the vehicles manually at these intersections. The section of the road having heavy traffic movement will be allowed to move for longer duration of time, while those with less number of vehicles will get less time, thereby facilitating a smooth flow of traffic.

Currently, the manual method is being implemented on a trial basis at the Transport Chowk and Press Chowk during peak hours. The traffic police plan to expand this to other intersections such as Aroma Light Point, Railway Light Point and Housing Board Light Point.

The traffic lights at these intersections are switched off from 8.30 to 10.30 am and from 4.30 to 6.30 pm.

“It was often witnessed that there used to be heavy congestion on one side of the road while the other side had fewer

vehicles. Sometimes, the number of vehicles on that portion used to be so less that even when the signal was green no vehicles would cross the road. In contrast, there would be a long queue of vehicles on the other side,” said H S Doon, SP (Traffic).

“While it is working on a trial basis, we are noticing a tremendous impact of the technique in letting the city roads breathe easy. We are planning to extend it to other junctions soon,” he added.

NGOs working for road safety have welcomed the traffic police’s move.