Vehicles ply on chock-a-block traffic along the stretch of road from Dhobinala Police Point to DC Court Junction, Dimapur. A city traffic official informs that several choke points have during the two-day trial run (April 14-15) for traffic diversion to rehabilitate the old Road Overbridge commence in Dimapur. (Morung File Photo)
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Rehabilitation works will commence in due course, says DC Dimapur
Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 26
In the recently conducted two-day trial run (April 14-15) for traffic diversion, chaos and chokepoints stemmed from lack of adequate roadways and space to channel the huge number of vehicles within the main commercial areas of Dimapur.
Passengers and motorists had to sit in their vehicles for long hours in the sweltering heat just to reach their destinations.
Based on the experiences of the traffic personnel overseeing the traffic flow, DCP Traffic Dimapur, Meren Chenth, informed that they had identified several choke points during the exercise.
These included Nagarjan Junction, Deluxe point, Holy Cross junction, Dobhinala and Marawari Patti among others.
In addition, “We have also recommended to the administration to divert heavy vehicles coming from Khatkhati, Assam, towards Seithekema from the new four-lane highway,” he said.
Dimapur has been a major transit hub of Nagaland as well as the region since the early days of statehood and goods-laden trucks traverse between Nagaland and Manipur every day.
The official mentioned that slight changes for the diversionary routes will have to be made as per their experiences during the two-day trial run, on top of needing greater workforce to monitor traffic flow and volume.
“Some of our traffic personnel had to work late into the night at that time,” he revealed.
In general, he stated that the exercise was not very successful but highlighted the need for proper strategy implementation when the time comes for rehabilitation works on the dilapidated old Road Overbridge commence.
After the trial run, the PWD (National Highways), responsible for carrying out the assessment, had also submitted a report to the Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur, Sachin Jaiswal earlier on April 21.
However, the DC declined to divulge details from the report stating that it was an internal assessment and not for public information.
He nevertheless commented that rehabilitation works will commence in due course of time and traffic diversion will be made after discussing with various departments.
If and when that happens, citizens would have to buckle up for the anticipated traffic congestion until repairs are completed. Another crucial element in the proposed repair project is the rail line running under the bridge.
Meanwhile during a poll conducted by The Morung Express last year, several citizens suggested construction of ring road in crucial locations around Dimapur to ease congestion on top of constructing additional flyovers and repairing existing alternate routes.
Some others were of the opinion that improvement and accessibility of public transportation should be another priority to reduce the dependence of private vehicles.
Nevertheless, the clock is ticking on the health and status of the old railway over-bridge as evident from its wear and tear over the years.
