SHILLONG: The overlaying of different stretches of national highways, which started before the Assembly elections, is yet to be completed and the PWD has blamed the city’s traffic for the delay.
Only one portion of the highway from Mawlai to Lumdiengjri has been overlaid so far. Also, overlaying of 200-300 meters of the road from Mawblei to Laitkor is still going on.
When contacted, an official from the PWD (NH) said they could not complete the work on both sides of the road due to traffic and the matter has also been taken up with the city police.
Now, overlaying is done only on Sundays when the traffic is less. Road markings will be drawn once the work is over, the official informed.
When asked why none of the roads in Shillong have paved shoulders, the official said there has to be sufficient space of at least 8 meters for pavements. Meanwhile, choking traffic is a daily hazard in the city especially during school hours. Police Bazar, Motphran, Lumdiengjri, Laitumkhrah and Nongthymmai are the places where the traffic is usually the worst. Long lines of vehicles move sluggishly making these areas the most congested.
On Tuesday, the city witnessed traffic snarls in Mawlai, Lumdienggjri, Rhino point, IGP and Motphran. Speaking on the matter, East Khasi Hills SP Davis Marak said the traffic was less in the city in the past months because schools were closed for winter vacation and now that they have reopened, the congestion has started again. Marak informed that they had submitted recommendations to the previous government regarding traffic management and that it now depends on the new government whether they would look into the suggestions.
When asked about some of the recommendations, Marak said the police had recommended the state government to employ the service of a consultation firm to conduct a study and come up with a mechanism that would be applicable in Shillong to ease the persistent traffic problem.
“We have recommended the government to engage some consultation firm that will recommend if flyovers, vehicular under pass or any other mode of transportation will be feasible in Shillong,” said Marak.
Marak also said that without any scope for road expansion in the city and the ever increasing traffic, some drastic decisions may also have to be taken for expanding the roads in the city.
It would be interesting to see how the new government will address the issue of traffic jams in the city seeing as many of the political parties during the Assembly campaigns had continuously raised the topic of traffic jam in Shillong.