‘Nanthoor Junction Circle Size Reduced to Facilitate Smooth Traffic Flow’-Top Cop/Police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar R Jain
Mangaluru: To smoothen traffic flow at the busy Nanthoor junction, the city police are working with the National Highways Authority of India in reducing the size of the traffic yield to ensure vehicles quickly pass through the yield. The yield at present, which is located at the junction of NH 66, NH 75, and the KMC-Mercara Trunk Road, is huge while motorists, especially heavy vehicle drivers coming from NH 75 and 66 consume considerable time to negotiate the yield.
Speaking to the media, Police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar R Jain said “Heavy vehicles, especially those coming from Pumpwell junction and Bikarnakatte, are taking more time to go around the yield and move towards KPT junction. This is resulting in slow movement of traffic and the new vehicle-actuated traffic signals installed at the junction have not been of much use.”
He further said, “NHAI has been asked to reduce the size of the yield. We also want to reduce the distance between the high mast light, which is located in the yield, and the traffic signal. Managing traffic at this junction has been a challenge for the city traffic police. Having tried managing traffic by posting five personnel at a time, the traffic police later installed signal lights. As they did not help in smoothing the traffic flow, the signal lights were switched off nearly a decade ago and police came back to manual regulation of traffic. Services of Home Guards and traffic wardens were also being used”.
“Recently, new vehicle-actuated signal lights were installed by Mangaluru Smart City Limited. The police tried with different timings for the last few days and the suggestion was made to the NHAI to reduce the size of the traffic yield. The traffic police have studied the movement of heavy vehicles on this stretch. We have planned to regulate heavy vehicle movement. These vehicles will be barred from moving on this stretch in the morning peak hours. With the completion of the work on the yield and regulation of movement of heavy vehicles, the city police hope to efficiently manage traffic movement at this junction. We are keen on the use of technology that reduces the stress for policemen in physically regulating the traffic at this junction,” added the Police Commissioner.
Unless and until a Flyover is planned and becomes a reality, there will be constant traffic jams near Nanthoor Junction and all along the stretch of NH 66 near the junction. In the past many changes were done near the Junction to ease the flow of heavy traffic, especially during peak hours, but that hasn’t helped much, because traffic chaos still exists. The decision to reduce the size by the National Highway Authority of India {NHAI} was based on the complaints submitted by Mangaluru City Traffic Police Department. The Nanthoor junction circle had been a nightmare for motorists plying in that location, and many accidents have taken place in the past. In 2017, two people died, two were critically injured, four sustained minor injuries and four vehicles were damaged due to accidents at this Junction. Also in 2016, one person died, three were seriously injured and six sustained minor injuries and three vehicles were damaged at the same Junction. Recently, an elderly person and a young girl on a two-wheeler were crushed under a speeding truck.
Right now this could be just an experiment depending on how things will work, and they will be apprised of the ground reality only in the later days. Because such planning and failed issues have taken place earlier. Hoping the new plan will serve the purpose to avoid accidents and also for the smooth movement of traffic. Anyways, let’s keep our fingers crossed as to how the new changes made near the DEADLY Nanthoor Junction will help the motorists, and also prevent accidents. We all learn from our mistakes- so this could be yet another example.
