Surat: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) authorities may consult experts from CEPT University to find out a solution to the traffic chaos at the intersection connecting the cable-stayed bridge over Tapi River from Athwalines to Adajan, sources said. Even four months after its inauguration, commuters using the cable-stayed bridge face traffic jams as the civic body has failed to find a solution to ease traffic flow at Adajan intersection. Serpentine queues are witnessed on the bridge during peak hours, especially in the evenings when there is a heavy rush of vehicles from Athwalines to Adajan. The temporary solution to ease traffic flow at Adajan has come in the form of diverting traffic from the cable-stayed bridge towards Pal aquarium. For this, the commuters have to take a detour of one-and-a-half-kilometre from the cable-stayed bridge to reach LP Savani Road.The traffic from the flyover at Pal merges with the vehicular traffic from the cable-stayed bridge resulting in a jam. tnnThe traffic department of SMC and the city traffic police have been deliberating on this for last couple of months, but things are not working out.Sources said the flyover from income-tax office to Pal aquarium is a major bottleneck in the smooth flow of traffic. The giant pillars of the flyover are right in the centre of the intersection where the traffic from the cable-stayed bridge merges at Adajan.RTI activist Rajesh Modi said, “I will call this an engineering default. Have you ever seen a flyover in front of the approach end of the river bridge? Surat is a unique case. Had there been no flyover, the traffic problems would not have arisen.”Jayesh Vaniavala, a resident of Adajan, said, “The traffic chaos at Adajan side of the cable-stayed bridge is witnessed only during evening hours. Deployment of extra traffic personnel might solve the problem. There is no need to divert the traffic.”Trupti Kalatia, executive engineer (traffic cell), SMC, told TOI, “An action plan is ready to ease traffic flow at Adajan end of the cable-stayed bridge. A list of suggestions given by the city traffic police and the SMC traffic cell have been merged and we will soon have a detailed plan to curb the chaos.”

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