Repair work on Jamshedpur Mango bridge throws traffic out of gear

Jamshedpur, March 28: Traffic went haywire at Mango bridge with the beginning of repair work on the busy Jai Prakash Narayan Setu better known as Mango Bridge, which connects Jamshedpur with NH-33.

During the repair work which is being carried out by Tata Steel UISL (formerly JUSCO) from one of the two lanes of the bridge will remain open for two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers during day and night. Heavy vehicles will be allowed to pass through the single lane during the night only. The heavy vehicles including long-distance buses will pass through the Domuhani Bridge connecting to NH-33 through Marine Drive. The work will continue for next month.

The repair work at Mango bridge led to inconvenience to commuters. Traffic congestion is taking place leading to the sufferings of office goers and others. A businessman from Mango faced a tough time reaching his office today. A resident of New Purulia Road in Mango riding a bike got stuck in a jam session near the bridge.  But, somehow he managed to come off the snarl and instead took the old bridge to reach his office via the Subarnarekha Link Road.

 “Negotiating through the bridge has simply become a nightmare. Apart from snarl, commuters are also confronting air pollution caused by the flying dust,” pointed out another commuter Kriti Kumari, a student of Karim City College who stays at Mango.

Today too, cars, auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers moved at a snail’s pace on the bridge and also on the connecting Subarnarekha Link Road that leads to Sakchi and other parts of the steel city. Scores of commuters are facing a harrowing time due to a traffic snarl which continued for several hours.

The commuters complained that they are often confronted with such situations but the maintenance work has been added.  Long queue of vehicles including trucks, trailers, auto-rickshaws, cars and two-wheelers could be seen at the Mango bridge and the approach roads– Dimna Road, Pardih Road, Old Court Road and Bhuiyandih Road.

A section of commuters also blamed the traffic department for its inability to control the situation. “There would not have been such a chaos had there been traffic constables to manage the situation,” complained a commuter.  Traffic police were deployed to control the situation two hours after the jam began. A section of youths also volunteered in managing the traffic.

A traffic constable deployed on the Mango bridge admitted the fact that traffic congestion has become a regular phenomenon. ” With expansion programmes of Tata Steel and other companies, there has been a rise in the number of heavy vehicles. The pitiable road condition is also to be blamed as it often causes breakdown of vehicles,” he said .

This stretch is used by heavy vehicles and long distance buses coming from different parts of Jharkhand for going to Bengal, Odisha through Ghatshila and Baharagora. According to a city police survey, around 2 lakhs vehicles cross this stretch every day.