Is one-way the right way?
I was at Roopali last night to meet up with my biking friends to discuss and finalise our riding plans for September. It happened to be the first time that I had taken the Fergusson College road since it has turned into a ‘One-Way’. Yes, after months of debate the traffic police and the Pune Municipal Corporation finally implemented the one-way traffic plan for Jangli Maharaj (JM) and Fergusson College (FC) roads from last Friday.
In case you didn’t know already, the route from SG Barve Chowk to Garware Bridge on JM Road and from Garware Bridge to Veer Chaphekar Chowk on FC Road is now one-way. You can no longer take the right turn at Tukaram Paduka Chawk from FC Road to Ghole Road but Apte and Shirole Roads are still open to two-way traffic. Moreover, parking has been prohibited in most of these arterial roads to ensure smooth flow of traffic.
This move has been implemented on an experimental basis to test if this circular one-way system can indeed reduce the congestion on these parallel roads and the final decision will be taken after observing the traffic trends for a month. The traffic police believe that this plan will push the carrying capacity of JM road (the more congested of the two) to 6600 per car unit (pcu) at the speed of 25kms/hr as compared to its rather low current tally of 3600 pcu.
A lot of people though, have already started expressing their displeasure over this change. These mainly include people staying in the Deccan area who have now been forced to change their usual routes to commute around their homes and those staying in the by lanes that connect the two parallel roads. The latter are especially worried about the by lanes turning into perpetually clogged streets now that both the main roads have restricted traffic. Others have pointed to the fact that it has become even more dangerous to cross the streets because of the speeding vehicles.
I personally like this new system and after commuting on both these roads I feel the traffic conditions, especially on JM road, have definitely improved. In my opinion, the traffic flow is much smoother even during peak traffic hours. But I think it’s going to take a lot of efforts from the police and the PMC to seal this plan for good.
In my opinion the speed limits set on these streets need to be strictly implemented to ensure the safety of both the commuters as well as crossing pedestrians. Similarly people deliberately breaking into no entry lanes should be reprimanded and fined heavily. The new speed breakers which have been laid on these roads need to be well marked because right now they are only managing to give commuters a nasty scare.
Moreover, to avoid confusion proper signage should be displayed on both the roads to give motorists a better idea of the new route they are supposed to take. To encourage pedestrians to use the subways the PMC needs to ensure they are well lit, clean and with proper signage. Lastly I feel, the traffic lights on both these roads need to be properly coordinated and well timed to avoid bottlenecks like the one created by vehicle going towards Lakdi Pool near the Deccan Bus Stand.
If our mamas can indeed pull this off, by the end of the month they will surely be in a position to say “It’s one-way or the highway!!”
More articles by Sagar Sheldekar
- Restaurant review- Asian Melange - January 8th, 2010
- New Year Blues - December 19th, 2009
- “The Great Helmet Debate”- A No Brainer - December 12th, 2009
- Malshej Waterfall 1200' Rappelling Camp (October 39th Week 2009) - October 15th, 2009
- MindSpark - CoEP's Tech-Fest (October 38th Week 2009) - October 8th, 2009
