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| Sunday, 21 November 2004 |
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Modified form of traffic movement to ease congestion by Anton Nonis A modified form of traffic movement to ease traffic congestion along Galle Road tried by the Traffic Police, has been greatly successful, Senior Superintendent of Traffic, Y.G.R.M. Lafir told the `Sunday Observer'. It was an exercise mainly to discipline bus drivers. The traffic exercise was tried for five days last week (from Monday to Friday) in the evenings, during the worst `traffic jam' hours from 4 p.m onwards. Only the downward movement of vehicles was dealt with for the trial while the upward movement continued as usual. The traffic exercise started from Kollupitiya junction upto Dickman's Road traffic lights. Congestion which usually persists till about 7.15 pm on other days, had cleared off by 6.30 p.m, with the modified form, Police sources said. SSP Lafir said that buses were made to use the extreme left lane of the three-lane road. The other two lanes of the road were made available for any other type of vehicle. Traffic policemen kept watch at bus halts to ensure buses took off quickly after having stopped to pick up commuters. It was a measure to minimise delays at bus halts, a menace with private bus operators that led to congestion on highways on many occasions. The system also prevented the stopping of buses in between bus halts, which was again an irregularity frequently practised by the private buses. Traffic Police will try out the same exercise on the upward movement of vehicles along the Galle Road - from Dickman's Road traffic lights upto Kollupitiya junction, keeping the buses to the left extreme lane of the road. This operation will start at 6.30 a.m. and will end at 9.30 a.m. Policemen also stood on the centre island to supervise the smooth operation of the program.It was planned to extend the modified system of traffic movement to all other trunk roads in Colombo including the High Level Road, Baseline Road and the Union Place. SSP Lafir said that more improvements would be brought in as the process continued. He said that the present exercise was totally a new concept of the Traffic Police and had nothing to do with a more complex form of traffic movement known as `Uniflow' which was also planned for Colombo. It is still under discussion among the Police top brass and would come into operation at a later date. |
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