Post closure of flyover at Butibori, the movement of traffic on the all-important section of Nagpur-Hyderabad National Highway resembles a chaotic weekly market, with everyone fighting to get that extra inch of space to speed off to their destination. Chaos is now the order of the day at Butibori Industrial Estate junction, as citizens try to scamper past the grind, which is now a daily trouble on the road.

 

To make matters worse, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has cordoned off a part of service road on either side of bridge which reduces available width for movement of vehicles. A bottleneck is forming due to closure of nearly half of motorable road, right after the main square, near Butibori bus stop on Nagpur-Hyderabad highway. A visit to the spot by ‘The Hitavada’ team revealed that closure of road is due to reasons known only to NHAI officials. This stretch of road is facing heavy vehicular flow due to traffic diverted from the flyover, which is shut for traffic since Tuesday. The bridge was closed for vehicular traffic after some debris fell off a section of the flyover as a truck carrying very heavy load was passing through it. Also, some pillars of the bridge, inaugurated about three-and-a-half-years ago, had also subsided which led to safety concerns.

 

The reduced available area after the square for vehicular traffic has become a nuisance for both commuters and local citizens. Shafi Khan, owner of a tea stall near the square where the bridge is damaged informed ‘The Hitavada’, “There was a loud noise when a portion of the bridge suffered damage. Some debris fell off section of the bridge and it was visibly lower than its original level as can be seen on remaining section of the flyover.” NHAI erected scaffolding to support the flyover portion that has sunk and closed the bridge for traffic after the incident. Butibori is located near the juncture of Wardha road with Nagpur - Hyderabad National Highway. Both the roads witness heavy traffic movement, and most of time the loads are heavy, as they are transporting industrial machinery and other heavy materials. The ongoing closure of flyover at Butibori has forced the traffic to use the service lanes passing through the town, and they are proving inefficient to handle the heavy traffic.

 

 

The flyover was originally built to reduce the same congestion at the Butibori Square was used by local citizens and the vehicular traffic to and from adjoining MIDC area. Due to diversion of traffic on service lanes, the locals are now exposed to jams and moreover, the pedestrians and those using two-wheelers are now at increased risk. The traffic congestion seen at the main square of Butibori had not happened since the inauguration of the flyover. The square gets crowded as the Government and private buses passing through the town stop near the commuters shed built at the square. When a bus stops for boarding-deboarding of passengers, it leaves very narrow space for vehicle behind to pass over to move ahead. This causes the formation of queues and the jam persists till the bus starts moving again. Even if the vehicle manage to pass over, there is a bottleneck at the road ahead, just after the square. This bottleneck of road, formed due to obstructing wall on one side and parked vehicles on other side, leaves effectively a single lane for movement of the vehicles.

 

It becomes even more problematic in case of vehicles approaching from opposite side. Wrong side driving on this stretch of road seems more like a norm than exception. Upon inquiring the reason for wrong side driving, the locals sighted absence of U-turn on the road for few kilometers, nearest being the underpass for Takalghat on Wardha Road, which is nearly 4 kms. While the Hyderabad side of flyover is closed due to damage to a section, the other side is closed as precautionary measure. This closure has created congestion on opposite side as well. The congestion is creating problems for commercial passengers vehicles, as very limited time is available to board and deboard the passengers at the stop on road approaching Nagpur. This limited time is hampering commuters to find the vehicle to reach their destinations. Most of the passengers at Butibori are from nearby villages like Dongargaon, they work at various factories in MIDC area. They use private commercial vehicles for their commute. "Earlier we could find the vehicles for our travel easily.

 

Now, with traffic congestion and continuos honking by vehicles behind, the commercial passenger vehicles have to leave quickly making it hard to board and deboard,"” said Shalikram Deogade, a resident of Dongargaon who works in one of the factories in MIDC area. He hoped for reopening of the flyover sooner. Traffic Management: The traffic management at the square has also become a serious issue. The heavy traffic and no alternate route for locals to cross the national highway has made the square an accident prone area. The police personnel from Butibori police station, and some other private workers were seen handling the traffic at the busy square. The volume of traffic and pedestrian movement warrant a trained traffic police personnel at the spot for handling the traffic, to avoid any possible mishap happening in near future.