PANAJI: After nightmarish traffic experiences along the Cortalim route last week, motorists and commuters bracing for the worst on Monday morning were pleasantly surprised by the smooth flow of traffic during rush hour.The public works department (PWD) got its act together and tarred the last leg of the Agasaim stretch on Sunday night despite no respite from the rains. “There were heavy rains on Sunday night but we tarred the road. We have completed the Agasaim side and will be taking up the Cortalim road next,” PWD superintending engineer for national highways Vijay Verenkar told TOI, adding that work on the slipway at Cortalim is expected to be complete by this week and will ease traffic flowing from Panaji to Margao.A larger number of traffic police were present between Cortalim and Agasaim as well as on the Zuari bridge ensuring smooth flow of traffic. Barricades have also been erected on the road towards Vasco at the Cortalim junction to ensure that only a single file of four-wheelers proceed to the bridge. With traffic slowing down on the Agasaim side, impatient drivers would form multiple queues, adding to the confusion and creating more bottlenecks. “It is amazing that the solution lay in just addressing the pothole problem,” said a motorist who was taken by surprise when he passed through Cortalim smoothly on Monday.DYSP traffic (North) Dharmesh Angle agreed that the flow of traffic was smooth on Monday because the road was tarred at Agasaim over the weekend. “If the area gets waterlogged again the problem may resurface. It is a continuous process. As of now there has been some relief,” he said.Bad travel experiences over the past week forced a student from Panaji answering MBA examinations with Sikkim Manipal University at Navelim to camp down South for a week with her aunt after relatives and friends caught in the jams over the past week advised her to do so.A few even developed medical conditions because the long bumpy ride. After the long hours spent travelling standing in public transportation and also being forced to travel 15 extra km via Ponda last week, a government servant was had to visit a medical practitioner for the backaches she suffered. “I left very early on Monday morning via the Cortalim route and reached my office well before time. I’m on medication,” she said.The potholed roads on the Agasaim side of the Zuari bridge were responsible for three-hour jams on either side of the bridge last week, inconveniencing office-goers, students, tourists trying to get to the airport and people seeking medical treatment.It was also a common sight to see ambulances caught up in traffic snarls that were unavoidable.

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