MARGAO: Commuters who frequent the Margao-Panjim highway on a daily basis were in for a rude shock on Monday morning when they were stuck in a long traffic snarl. For perspective, ever since the New Zuari bridge was opened, one reaches Panjim from Margao far quicker compared to what it was before the new bridge was opened.
However, it is a regular sight to see a long queue of vehicles near the two traffic signals near the entrance of the Verna Industrial Estate and this happens on both routes, Margao-Panjim and Panjim to Margao.There have been times when the traffic police have to intervene to alleviate the congestion and start manning these two junctions.
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On Monday, vehicles were seen stuck on the slope from Nagoa to Verna. Given that this took place around 9 am when people had to reach their offices on time, a lot of commuters were unhappy. Even buses were stuck in the queue.
Finally, traffic police reached the site after 20 minutes or so and the situation improved with the congestion easing out.
“The main problem is during peak hours. It is an issue otherwise also but during the peak hours, the timings of the traffic signals are choking the flow of traffic. This was meant to be a solution and so there is a need to either rationalise the timings for the traffic signals or shut the signals during the peak hours and have traffic police regulate traffic,” said Caetano Monteiro from Nuvem.
“This is not the first time something like this has happened. There has to be a more effective way to handle this as it’s become a recurring
problem. The authorities however have to first agree that this is an issue so that corrective measures can be put in place,” added Riselle Sequeira from Margao.
