Bhubaneswar: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has approached the state government seeking their approval to divert traffic from Khandagiri Square towards Khurda to check mishaps.
The NHAI is mulling to establish two grade separated structures at Khandgiri Square to prevent mishaps as the area was already declared as a ‘black spot’ (accident prone area) by the Ministry of Road Transport. Grade separated structures generally denote structures like road over bridge, bridges, viaducts, culverts and others.
The central highway authority has written to the police department and other concerned authorities for their approval and coordinated efforts to ensure the establishment of the structures and also to allow the major traffic diversion on National Highway-16 connecting Vishakhapatnam and Cuttack via Bhubaneswar.
The NHAI has proposed three service lanes for vehicles plying on the national highway. According to the plan, vehicles going from Bhubaneswar to Khurda would, if permitted, move via Cosmopolis service lane which has now been made a three-lane road.
On the other hand, light vehicles going from Vishakhapatnam (Khurda side) towards Cuttack via Bhubaneswar would have to move towards AMRI Hospital side and again join Bhubaneswar. However, for heavy vehicles, the route would try to avoid Khandgiri altogether. As per the proposal, heavy vehicles would have to take a turn from the Pitapali Square in Khurda and move towards Cuttack from Barang side thus not entering Khandagiri road and leaving it untouched.
The proposal is now under consideration of the state police and local administrations for approval. If approved in the same format, the changes would come into force soon. The NHAI has tried to buttress its proposal with the need to tackle the ‘black spot’ of Khandagiri.
In the letter to the DCP, Bhubaneswar, the NHAI local office said, “It is pertinent to mention that Khandagiri is an identified black spot of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. So it is essential to complete the construction of the grade separated structures at Khandagiri junction at the earliest to not only avoid fatal accidents but also to ease the heavy traffic congestion.”
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