Surat: The widening of Sardar Bridge over Tapi River was taken up by Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to reduce traffic jams by providing additional lanes to commuters to easily cross over to the other side, but narrow roads at the exit ramps have defeated the whole objective. Even after five months of opening of the widened portion of the bridge from Adajan to Athwalines, commuters have no respite from heavy traffic jams during peak hours because widening has taken place only on the main bridge connected with the existing exit ramp at Majura Gate and that the work to widen the portion from Athwalines to Adajan is moving at a snail’s speed.During peak hour rush, it takes about 20 minutes to cross the one-kilometre stretch of the bridge from Adajan to Athwalines and from Adajan to Majura Gate, with cars and two-wheelers moving bumper to bumper. The SMC constructed a parallel bridge connecting Sardar Bridge from Adajan to Athwalines. Its one ramp from Adajan is facing Majura Gate and the other is at Athwagate junction. When traffic approaches the exit ramps at both the places, the road becomes narrow, resulting in congestion. The congestion at the exit ramps leads to traffic jam on the main bridge. The problem gets compounded as vehicles approach the junctions at Majura Gate and Athwagate, where peak hour traffic merges from all four directions. In order to allow vehicles from other directions to pass, vehicles approaching from the bridge end have to wait in the queue, sources said.Those travelling towards Athwalines and Piplod have to again face heavy traffic jam near the new court building as four and two-wheelers are parked on both sides of the roads, leaving little space for traffic to pass smoothly.Hitesh Vasanwala, a resident of Jehangirpura who owns a provision store in Athwalines, said, “I prefer two-wheeler, but on rainy days, I travel in my car. Though bridge has been widened, the traffic situation remains the same as earlier. The approach ends at Athwalines and Majura Gate are narrow. It takes almost 20 minutes to cross to the other side from Adajan in the morning hours.”Akshay Pandya, executive engineer, SMC’s bridge cell, told TOI, “The traffic moves at a slow speed during monsoon season. There are breakdowns of vehicles on the bridge, which also causes traffic jam. Not only on the bridges, traffic jam is everywhere in the city during rainy season. The widened portion of Sardar Bridge will increase its capacity to carry 20,000 passenger car units (PCU) per hour during peak hour from the current 11,000 PCUs. At present, more than 4.35 lakh people commute from Sardar Bridge on either sides for work per day.”A SMC traffic cell officer said, “Ever since the widened portion of Sardar Bridge was inaugurated in February, traffic movement has since been regulated. But, we have been witnessing traffic jams with the start of monsoon season because the number of cars increases. We have advised traffic police to manage traffic manually to allow more time for commuters from Sardar Bridge to cross the junction.”CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE’S INAUGURATION POSTPONEDMelvyn.ReggieThomasSurat: Commuters in Adajan will continue to experience traffic jams on Sardar Bridge for another two months as the inauguration of the cable-stayed bridge over Tapi has been postponed till September.Official sources said heavy rain in the Diamond City for the last one week has disturbed the inauguration deadline of the cable-stayed bridge. The construction of asphalt road on the bridge is yet to begin due to rain. Moreover, street lighting on the bridge and special lighting effect on the cables are still pending.To top it all, the widening of Sardar Bridge from Athwalines to Adajan, which was supposed to be completed in June, has been delayed due to monsoon. Now, the authorities believe that the widened portion of the bridge can only be inaugurated during Diwali season.Asked about the status of the widening of the second phase of Sardar Bridge and the cable-stayed bridge, Akshay Pandya, executive engineer, SMC’s bridge cell, said, “We were on our schedule, but heavy rain spoiled our plan to open the cable-stayed bridge in August. As road construction work is still pending, the bridge will be inaugurated only in September now.”The cable-stayed bridge is being built at a cost of Rs143 crore by Gammon India Limited from October 2010. The deadline for the completion of the bridge was set as May 2013. However, the work on the cable-stayed bridge was stalled for over a year, following the collapse of the curved portion of Athwalines flyover, claiming lives of 10 people.Pandya added, “The opening up of the cable-stayed bridge will help ease the burden of vehicles on Sardar Bridge. Those travelling to Athwalines, Piplod, Dumas, Ring Road, Vesu, VIP and other areas can easily take the cable-stayed bridge to reach their destinations.”TIMES VIEWSurat Municipal Corporation (SMC) authorities should ensure that the pending work of the bridge is completed in a time-bound manner. Congestion at the exit ramps is leading to traffic jam on the main bridge and the civic authorities need to seriously look into it if they want their objective of seamless traffic flow to succeed on this stretch.

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