The traffic congestion on the NH17 in Porvorim particularly on the stretch from Damien de Goa to the O’Coqueiro circle needs to be looked at seriously. The roads meeting at the O’Coqueiro circle requires to be widened both on the CHOGM road and also on the highway. The traffic problem here can be resolved by making a grade separator where the direct traffic towards Panjim or Mapusa will go on top while the traffic from both the CHOGM road and BB Borkar road will go below.
This requires that all the roads at the circle be widened which may need sacrificing the compound wall of not only the PWD water tank but also similar impounding of land on the buildings on all the four roads. Narrower pavements will also have to be thought of at this intersection. Attention shoul be given to the O’Coqueiro circle in the context of the 3rd Mandovi Bridge. The third bridge on the Mandovi as proposed between the existing two bridges is a bad idea.
By any road or traffic engineering logic you do not allow overdependence on any single road like we are doing with the NH17 highway in the context of this bridge. As planned now it will not solve the traffic congestion the genesis of which is at the O’Coqueiro circle. Even if the third Mandovi bridge will help in increasing throughput across the river it will not solve the problem before the bridge at Porvorim. Thus what is done in such situations is that to reduce congestion you build alternate traffic routes much before the existing bridges.
Thus the 3rd Mandovi Bridge should be at a different location like maybe looping out across the river at Brittona and landing at the Merces circle. This will take away traffic after the O’Coqueiro circle and also develop the BB Borkar Road through Brittona which will become the access road for the 3rd Mandovi Bridge at this new location. Other than that another alternative location for the 3rd Mandovi Bridge would be on the Verem-Reis Magos to Dayanand Bandodkar Marg or Miramar. This will truly be a tourist attraction going across the estuary of the Mandovi and be a link via the University road to the NH17 through Bambolim.
The beach belt of Candolim and Calangute can also access this bridge rather than coming up CHOGM road. Once you provide ferry service be it regular ferry or hovercrafts from Dona Paula to Vasco, this bridge will provide easy access for locals as well as tourists to reach Dabolim Airport from the beach belt. Thus the two alternate orientations of the 3rd Mandovi Bridge will help alleviate traffic problems in Porvorim. These suggestions do not take away the need for a grade separator at the O’Cocqueiro circle and installing traffic lights at the stretch of the NH17 from the Damien de Goa to the Sai Circle in Porvorim which will regulate the traffic. But if the bridge is made as planned now then the benefit goes to the real estate lobby and the party while in the alternate orientation it benefits the people of Goa which these days is not normally a criterion for this government. The alternate orientation of the 3rd Mandovi Bridge suggested here was under discussion in various forums in the last few years but suddenly it has been decided almost like a fait accompli that it will be planted in between the two existing bridges.
