By Binu Shrestha
Kathmandu, Mar. 8 :Traffic management in the Kathmandu Valley has become harder every passing year due to fast growing population and vehicles against limited and congested roads.
Everybody had been facing nasty traffic congestion in several junctions of the valley. To reduce the traffic jams and to divert the vehicles to the corridor roads from the main lanes, in joint collaboration of several government agencies, corridor roads on either side of the Bishumati, Dhobikhola, Manohara, Balkhu (Indramati) and Hanumante Rivers have been opened or are under construction.
Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD), Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), Ministry of Finance, Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Department of Road and High Powered Committee for Integrated Development for the Bagmati Civilization (HPCIDBC) are currently working on sides of five rivers of the valley.
Construction process of these corridors has began after forming a Prime Minister Office level committee named Short Term Action Plan for the Improvement of Kathmandu Valley Traffic Friendly Infrastrucure-2019 from December/January this year.
Around 80 per cent construction works have been completed except for the Hanumante River corridors in Bhaktapur. Opening of underpasses under a few bridges is in process for the corridors, informed Bhim Prasad Dhakal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of MTPD.
The committee has made 36-point action plan with an aim to provide alternative roads to escape from the busy main roads of the valley without affecting the natural pristine beauty of the rivers flowing across the capital valley. Nearly 1.2 million vehicles ply in the valley. Of these, 92 per cent are private and 8 per cent public. Around 800 vehicles have to move within one kilometre distance, he informed.
In recent days, a single traffic police has been managing 900 vehicles a day, Dhakal said.
SSP Dhakal said that around 30 to 40 per cent traffic congestion of the main roads would be diverted to the corridors after completing their construction and it would be easy to manage the traffic on the main roads.
HPCIDBC has taken responsibility to construct the roads, lay down sewage pipes and build river embankments on either side of the Bagmati, Bishumati, Dhobikhola, Manohara, Balkhu and Hanumante Rivers.
The corridor roads will have two lanes having width of 10 meters, including one or two meters footpath. The roads will be 8 meters wide on both sides. Constriction of two-lane road will provide great relief to the valley residents, said Yogendra Chitrakar, Deputy Project Manager of HPCIDBC.
Under the Bagmati corridor, construction of 16 kilometres road and embankment and sewage pipe laying work from Gokarna to Sundarighat section has already completed, he informed. Construction works along the 10.6 km Sundarighat to Modern Indian School section has begun in the current fiscal year.
In Bishnumati corridor, construction work in the Bishnumati confluence to Mahadevkhola confluence has completed and black-topping process in 3.5 km road from Kalimati Bridge to New Bus Park Bridge has also begun this fiscal year.
Around 13 kilometres corridor of Dhobikhola confluence to Gopi Krishna Hall has completed and remaining 5 kilometre road section from Gopi Krishna to Baluwakhani is under construction. Under the Nakkhu River corridor, Nakkhu confluence to Kantipur Colony section began last fiscal year and construction of 5 km road from Kantipur Colony onward has begun in the current fiscal year.
Construction of Balkhu corridor from Civil Colony to Ring Road bridge began last fiscal year. Under the Hanumante River corridor, construction of Radhe Radhe to Madhyapur Junction Bridge section has been continuing from last fiscal year. Sallaghari Bridge to Radhe Radhe Bridge to Madhyapur Bridge to Balkot Bridge and Balkot to Balkumari section has begun in current fiscal year.
A total of 16 kilometres of road would be constructed on both sides of the Hanumante River.
Hanumante corridor project will be helpful in reducing the current Koteshwor-Jadibuti traffic congestion once it gets completed, said SSP Dhakal.
“Underpass should be built beneath each bridge of these five corridors to manage smooth traffic,” he said.
Parking area, traffic signal and road furnishing would be managed in the on-going corridors. If possible, traffic lights should be managed in such corridors, he suggested.