EDITORIAL
Traffic junctions need to be redesigned so as to facilitate smoother traffic flow
In a major initiative to tackle traffic congestion and reduce road accidents, the Goa government signed an MoU on Wednesday with IIM Nagpur’s Council for Logistics, Infrastructure and Project Management (CLIP). This was in the presence of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other dignitaries, on the occasion of inauguration of the six-lane elevated corridor in Porvorim on Wednesday.
Over the next six months, the IIM is expected to identify traffic bottlenecks and also redesign busy junctions. High-traffic zones such as Merces Circle and Divja Circle have long awaited a solution. IIM Nagpur’s CLIP is a not-for-profit company and centre of excellence established to boost India’s capabilities in infrastructure and project management. It carries out specialised training and advanced research. If required, it collaborates with national and international organisations. The Margao junction, Panaji KTC bus stand, etc, will hopefully get a solution for decongestion. The IIM will give actionable recommendations with corrective measures which will help in reducing the road accident rate too. The report will be submitted in six months, the Chief Minister said. Commuters and motorists suffer daily not only on major state highways and district roads but even on national highways. It looks like, in the recent past when the highways were planned, certain aspects were not given much importance. Atal Setu is a big relief for motorists who commute on the national highway, but they get stuck at the Merces Circle. The AI-linked traffic signals put up two years ago on a pilot basis were a relief but only for some time.
Such an MoU or some agency should have been engaged long ago to resolve the traffic issues. The Atal Setu Bridge was inaugurated in 2019, and since then, the Merces Circle has been a bottleneck. No one has really tried to resolve it. The Transport Department and the Traffic Cell of Goa police are aware that the solution is not simple. In the presence of Gadkari, the Chief Minister has said that the state government would implement the recommendations and corrective action plan, if submitted by IIM Nagpur. Over the last 10 years, we have come across several policies being launched, but how many of them have been implemented?
Goa recorded 169 road accidents per lakh population in 2024, the highest rate among all states and Union territories nationally, ahead of Kerala (136) and Tamil Nadu (88). While Goa may not lead India in terms of total road accidents by absolute vehicle volume, it consistently lands in the top five states and Union Territories when the number of accidents is calculated per registered vehicle, according to a non-profit think and act research organisation. According to police, rash and negligent driving or riding is a primary cause of the road mishaps, while poor road conditions have also been cited. From January to July this year, road accidents claimed 157 lives in the state. With a view to making roads motorable and reducing accidents, Gadkari has announced Rs 6,200-crore projects in the state.
As there is a lack of public transport in the state, citizens are dependent on private vehicles. Goa holds one of the highest vehicle ownership rates per family in the country. In the past, some MoUs, in general, were not taken to their logical conclusion. Considering the seriousness of the issue, the Goa government will have to pursue the study with IIM, Nagpur till we get the report. It is hoped that the state government will implement the recommendations once the report is submitted.
