Navigating the streets of Bhopal has become a daily ordeal for its residents, with widespread road digging and closures bringing the city to a crawl. A sense of frustration is palpable among commuters who find their usual routes blocked, leading to long snarls and chaotic scenes, especially during peak hours.
City in Disarray: A Commuter's Perspective
The sentiment is perfectly captured by Ramesh Makhija, a young biker who was forced to halt at a closed road at Vande Matram Square in Arera Colony. "It feels as if the entire city has been dug up," he cribbed, echoing the feelings of countless others. This is not an isolated issue confined to the old city areas, where Metro work in Subhash Nagar, Karond, and Jinsi has been disrupting life for months. The problem has now engulfed the posh sectors of New Bhopal as well.
Rampal Singh, an FMCG salesman, explains the dual challenge. While the old city grapples with Metro construction, the Public Works Department (PWD) in newer areas like Arera Colony and Bawadia Kalan has embarked on converting tar roads into concrete cement (CC) roads post-monsoon. This, combined with other utility works, has left few roads untouched, even affecting residential colonies in BHEL.
Navigational Chaos and Compounding Problems
Anil Sarathi, a resident of Kolar, shared a harrowing experience of trying to reach a doctor in E-2, Arera Colony. Finding the road from Bittan Market to Bhojpur Club closed, he tried an alternate route via Old Campion ground, only to find that blocked too. "I didn't know which roads I took to reach the doctor's place," he said, highlighting the navigational chaos. The situation in Arera Colony is worsened by gates installed by residents of sectors E-1 to E-8, which often remain closed, further restricting thoroughfare.
Traffic personnel, already stretched thin, confirm that snarls have become routine. Key trouble spots include Bittan Market, Arera Colony, Trilanga, and Bawadia Kalan, where reduced road space forces vehicles to crawl during morning and evening rush hours. The traffic pressure is immense and managing smooth movement is exceptionally difficult under these conditions, officials admit.
A Multitude of Projects, A Single Outcome: Gridlock
The root cause is a perfect storm of simultaneous development projects. A traffic police official, speaking anonymously, listed the contributors: Metro work, road widening, CC road construction, flyover building, and digging for sewage and LPG gas lines. The cumulative effect is a significant reduction in space for vehicles on several key stretches, creating bottlenecks across the city.
The impact is widespread and severe:
- The road from Alpana tri-section to the railway station is closed.
- Stretches from Sapna Lodge, DIG Bungalow to Karond, and Platform No. 6 to Sindhi Colony are affected by Metro work.
- Underground Metro work between Sindhi Colony–Qazi Camp and Karond Navibagh congests Hamidia Road and entry points to Railway Station Platforms 1 and 6.
- Road and drainage work at Kali Mandir tri-section, Bharat Talkies, Sangam Talkies, Alpana Talkies, Sindhi Colony, Shahjahanabad police station Square, and Teen Mohra tri-section has squeezed traffic in these busy commercial zones.
- Flyover construction in Bairagarh has similarly reduced road width, slowing traffic to a trickle.
Traffic officials emphasize that the issues are often technical and engineering-related, beyond the sole capacity of the traffic police to resolve. As Bhopal pushes forward with its infrastructural upgrade, its citizens are left paying the price in time and patience, navigating a maze of closures and congestion that shows no immediate sign of abating.
