Endless jams: Commuting on Patna-Buxar NH a daily struggle for thousands

Patna, Dec 25 Traffic congestion on the Patna-Buxar National Highway-922 has become a persistent and severe issue, particularly in the Shahabad region, causing massive disruptions for commuters. The root cause appears to be the heavy movement of trucks transporting sand from the Son riverbed, compounded by haphazard parking by vehicles and inadequate traffic management measures.

Trucks dominate the southern lane of the Koilwar six-lane bridge, leaving little room for other vehicles to pass. Despite fines worth lakhs being imposed daily, there seems to be no substantial improvement.

Smaller vehicles add to the chaos, creating bottlenecks and worsening the jam. Even with a six-lane bridge built to ease traffic, poor implementation of traffic rules contributes to daily gridlocks.

Commuters like teacher Urmila Devi take over twice as long to cover relatively short distances, severely affecting productivity and quality of life. “I am a teacher in Mehandaura government school, which is 40 km from Kulharia. It generally takes around one hour but as the trucks are occupying the roads all the way from Sakkaddi, it takes two hours and sometimes three hours to reach school,” she said.

The roads such as the Sahar-Sakkaddi state highway and Ara-Chhapra National Highway culminate in the Patna-Buxar four-lane National Highway leading to traffic bottlenecks from Bihta to Ara.

At Manbhavna turn on Patna-Buxar NH 922, police personnel redirect sand-laden trucks from NH-922 toward Chhapra, leading to continuous traffic congestion.

Road construction near Kolharampur on the Ara-Chhapra highway forces trucks to use the eastern lane, causing periodic blockages. Trucks entering no-entry zones and overtaking recklessly are key contributors to the gridlocks.

Manoj Kumar Sudhanshu Traffic DSP of Bhojpur said, “We have deployed additional police personnel on this stretch and intersections to ease traffic. We are also imposing challans on the traffic violators, especially the truckers.”

“Sand-laden trucks are being restricted to streamline movement and prevent overtaking. Enhanced supervision is in place to ensure compliance with the new lane rules,” Sudhanshu added.

The persistent issues of traffic jams suggest a need for more robust, systemic changes to traffic management and infrastructure planning to address the recurring congestion effectively.