MSCL instructed to enable the restoration of two-way traffic on the Clock Tower-Hamilton Circle stretch in Mangaluru

MSCL instructed to enable the restoration of two-way traffic on the Clock Tower-Hamilton Circle stretch in Mangaluru

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, October 6, 2024: The city police have asked the Mangaluru Smart City Ltd. (MSCL) to make infrastructural changes on Maidan Road and restore the two-way traffic on a trial basis on the Clock Tower-A.B. Shetty Circle-Hamilton Circle that was made part of circular one-way in September 2021.

In a meeting with bus owners, people’s representatives, and other citizens recently, City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal told the MSCL to open the Clock Tower, A.B. Shetty Circle, and Hamilton Circle, where traffic islands were constructed, to facilitate two-way traffic. The process should be completed at the earliest, he said.

MSCL officials however said the company was yet to take a final call on the direction. “Some more discussions need to be held before we take a final call on the issue,” said a senior official. The company had invested a considerable amount of money in removing the median, widening footpaths, and providing other road furniture while converting the stretch to one-way, the official said.

Public opposition

The very same Mangaluru City Corporation councillors, who had demanded implementation of circular one-way traffic on Clock Tower-A.B. Shetty Circle-Hamilton Circle-Rao & Rao Circle-Clock Tower in September 2021, have sought a reversal of the system in their August 28, 2024, meeting. Mangaladevi Ward Councillor Premanand Shetty, during whose tenure as the Mangaluru Mayor the one-way system was introduced, said on August 28 that the one-way traffic was creating traffic problems at Hamilton Circle while pedestrians were finding it hard to cross roads on the entire stretch of the one-way loop because of unhindered vehicular movement.

In the July 26 District Road Safety Committee meeting, Deputy Commissioner M.P. Mullai Muhilan directed MSCL to hold a meeting with the police and other stakeholders on the one-way system as there was considerable opposition to it. Bunder Ward Councillor Abdul Latheef told the September 17 meeting that the one-way system was creating severe inconvenience to residents of his ward as they were forced to move on a circuitous route. Social activist G.K. Bhat said the one-way system was unscientific and introduced in haste without any study. Two-way system should be restored on the Clock Tower-A B Shetty Circle-Hamilton Circle-Rao & Rao Circle.

Wide enough

While the traffic police want the widened footpaths on Maidan Road to be shrunk in size to widen the road for the reintroduction of the two-way system, Mr. Bhat said the 20m road was more than enough to reintroduce the two-way system.