PANJIM/AGASAIM/CORTALIM: The stretch between Agasaim and Cortalim has been witnessing massive traffic snarls for the past several days, which has become severe in the last four consecutive days.
As the year 2022 draws to a close, traffic congestion and jams have come to haunt commuters along the Cortalim-Agasaim and Agasaim-Verna stretch, and this is not only during peak hours but almost every hour, where delays and traffic moving at a snail’s pace have become a common feature.
In the last four days, people have been posting photographs of traffic congestion and have even complained about the slow movement of traffic along the stretch just as in the previous year especially when the new Zuari bridge was opened for public/pedestrians for a good evening walk and click photographs. But the revelers chose to click selfies which left other commuters stranded for hours. The situation was such that people were forced to leave from their homes early so as to reach their destination on time.
However, as the State government drew flak for delaying the opening of the first phase of the four-lane of the iconic Zuari Bridge amidst the ongoing traffic congestion compounded by citizens thronging the bridge, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) late Tuesday stated that the bridge will be shut for visitors on Wednesday but this did not provide any solace to commuters as traffic jam continued even during the odd hours in the afternoon.
The new bridge will be thrown open for vehicular traffic from Thursday midnight.
The social media has been flooded with photographs and videos of serpentine queues of vehicles on the old bridge.
As per the reports, many commuters missed their scheduled flights, ambulances were stuck for hours, and office-goers and students were left stranded in the traffic jams.
Today, Team Herald visited the spot to witness the traffic snarls and report the same. Herald spoke to some people who were stuck in the jam. John Fernandes, commuting from Panjim to Margao said, “This is nothing new, as this continues every year during the festive week as tourists and visitors visit the State in large numbers while many travel on this road during the festive season.”
Another person who got stuck in the traffic was Peter D’Souza.
He said that he was proceeding from Siolim to Majorda for lunch. But he had to spend nearly one-and-half hours just to cross the Goa Velha stretch to reach the bridge and couldn’t be on time for lunch.
He demanded that the new bridge be open for commuters immediately rather than allowing it for people to click selfies.
A local from Agasaim, Piedade said, “This is common for us. We hardly get our cars out during this week. Our family members and neighbours ride the two-wheelers because travelling in cars is a nightmare.”
