Panaji: More than 20 days after its inauguration, vehicles continue to face restricted access to the Rs 641-crore Porvorim elevated corridor, leaving traffic congestion on the four lanes below — what the corridor was meant to ease — largely unchanged. Peak-hour pile-ups have shown no signs of easing, even after one entry and one exit were opened recently.The situation worsened during the Oct 2 long weekend, when out-of-state vehicles and rented cars driven by tourists added to the pressure. Police personnel were stationed along the four lanes below the corridor from O’Coqueiro junction up to the junction before the Mandovi bridges to keep traffic moving.Meanwhile, the promised timeline for fixes has slipped. The eight-day window during which PWD minister Digambar Kamat had assured that signage and other measures would be put in place — clearing the way for reopening the corridor’s entries and exits — has already passed.Porvorim resident and former PWD highway engineer Ganpat Sidhaye, who has overseen national highway projects, said the corridor has worsened traffic rather than improving it.“Traffic on Atal Setu goes directly to Merces junction and has to turn again to go to Panaji. They should have made a better exit to Panaji first on the Atal Setu itself. The junction and traffic flow between the elevated corridor and the Atal Setu should have been better planned too, but it was never. Now, Porvorim residents continue to suffer. I do not see any immediate solution,” he said.Compounding the problem is the current ban on two-wheelers on the corridor. With scooters and motorcycles making up around 50% of the traffic, they are forced onto the four lanes below, leaving the flyover significantly underutilised.Concerns about planning and land acquisition had also been raised earlier. Pravinsingh Shedgaonkar and other Porvorim residents wrote to the Union highways ministry’s chief engineer in 2024, alleging that the land acquisition process for the flyover was faulty.“Road formation width is restricted to 25m land acquisition for most of the alignment. It is noted that 40m acquisition is available for only 25% of the project length. The agency that participated in the tender process had raised this issue during the pre-bid meeting and had expressed that it is difficult to manage traffic in a 25-m-wide road formation during the construction stage. The authorities did not reply in detail regarding this aspect,” the letter said.Residents also said congestion has worsened on some stretches compared to before the flyover was built. They pointed to the area opposite Mall De Goa, where traffic has been diverted off the main road via Shivaji circle. The curvature along this diversion slows vehicles, leading to pile-ups.
