Residents of bylanes unhappy with increased traffic

PUNE: The one-way traffic system on Jangli Maharaj (JM) and Fergusson College (FC) roads, which has led to an increase in traffic in the bylanes connecting the two roads, has drawn mixed reactions from the residents of these bylanes. While most people are happy about the prohibition of parking in most of these lanes, they expressed concern over the increased speed at which vehicles go through the lanes.
Srikant Godbole, a resident of Kulkarni Road, better known as the lane next to Roopali hotel, told TOI, "There is a lot of confusion regarding the direction of traffic. Our lane is a one-way lane and only vehicles from Apte road are allowed to use it to get to FC road. The authorities should also put a speed limit on the vehicles in these bylanes. These are mainly residential areas and many people, including children and the elderly, walk here.
"Most schools and colleges were closed till Sunday. There are fewer people visiting shops and hotels, because of the fear of swine flu. I apprehend that there will be more traffic in the lanes in the days to come. Hence, one should not assess the traffic flow in the lanes going by the present situation," Godbole said.
Suhasini Tamhankar, who owns a house on Ghole Road and has been staying there for the past 45 years said, "I do not support the one-way plan. Traffic on Ghole road has become difficult to control because of the number of buses on it. Also, local residents are forced to take a long detour to get to areas which were earlier very easily accessible. Now, even if I have to go to Bhandarkar road, I have to go via JM road and Deccan Gymkhana."
Another local resident, Uday Deshmukh, said that there has been a marked increase in the number of vehicles at the Sant Dyaneshwar Chowk. "Traffic at this chowk is getting chaotic and risky too," he said.
However, residents are unanimously happy about the fact that parking has been prohibited in most of the bylanes. "Though we witness lots of traffic on our lane, the good thing is that the traffic flow is faster as the carriage width of the lane has increased, following the ban on parking. Earlier there used to be numerous vehicles parked on both sides of the road and this created traffic bottlenecks in our lane," said Brig (retd) K G Pitre, who has been living on Wrangler Paranjape road, the lane next to Vaishali, for the last 58 years.