The state Public Works Department has proposed to build a two lane right-turning flyover, originating from the PWD road (that leads to Dakshineswar) and terminating near the Indian Statistical Institute campus on BT Road.
The need for a Dunlop interchange was felt during the construction of the Nivedita Bridge.
A stretch of the PWD road leads to the new Nivedita Bridge from the Dunlop crossing
Town planners felt that the Nivedita Bridge, the first of its kind in the country, would in future be a major corridor for the traffic from across the Hooghly. And hence, to reduce congestion at the Dunlop crossing, as a bulk of traffic from Nivedita Bridge converges here, a dispersal system was necessary.
According to PWD officials, the BT Road was already saturated beyond capacity for more than one reason.
First, there is a mixed mode of traffic — slow moving, fast moving as well as movement of heavy vehicles. The width of the BT Road is inadequate and is congested by the bus stops and heavy pedestrian movement.
The first phase involves widening of the BT Road and then the construction of the flyover.
The project cost has been estimated at Rs 30 crore. “This part of the project will take around 18 months to complete if work progresses as per schedule,” said a senior PWD engineer.
In the second phase, a ramp will be constructed down from the Belgharia Expressway to BT Road on the Sodepur side. The second phase envisages a cost of Rs 17 crore.
But insiders of the PWD department point out that the project could have been avoided and a Herculean amount of public money could have been saved had the authorities taken a proactive role in removing the encroachments on both sides of the BT Road and the PWD road.
In fact, even the PWD office is an encroachment and had to be demolished in order to construct the new stretch leading to the Nivedita Bridge.
“Buses and trucks are parked along the stretch and illegal garages have been operating since decades. If the encroachments were removed, the BT Road traffic could have been handled,” said an official.