Guntur banks on RUBs to solve traffic problems

Guntur: Deccan Chronicle had reported about the problems faced by the public due to the frequent closure of the railway level crossing gate at Nehru Nagar, on October 5. 

Now the Guntur Municipal Corporation has started efforts to resolve the traffic woes of commuters with the cooperation of the Railway Department. They have held talks with railway officials in view of reports about the frequent traffic jams at railway gates. 

The GMC will plan RUBs (Road Under Bridges) at Sanjivaiah Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Syamala Nagar and Arundelpeta to clear the many  traffic jams.

The RUBs at Sanjivaiah Nagar, Syamala Nagar and Nehru Nagar will be constructed at a cost of Rs 20 crore each. Addition-ally, Rs 30 crore will be spent for a RUB at Arundelpeta flyover. 

Besides these RUBs, the GMC will also construct two ROBs (Road Over Bridges) at Nandivelugu and Gaddipadu areas at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore and Rs 85 crore each. 

GMC officials have said that a meeting was alrea-dy held with railway officials. They sought permission from the Railway department for the construction of RUBs in the first phase and ROBs in the second phase.

Locals P. Sekhar and S. Dhanunjay among others welcomed the RUB proposals saying that RUBs were good for avoiding traffic jams at Railway gates because of trains passing on the tracks.

But there’s a major problem — rainwater often maroons those crossing the RUBs, which causes severe inconvenience. 

They stated that RUBs were already in use at Kanakaragunta of Gun-tur city, but during rains the two passages of the RUB get filled with rainwater, so the GMC must implement a perfect mec-hanism for the removal of rainwater.

GMC commissioner Ch. Anuradha said the Sanjivaiah Nagar RUB got permission from the railway department, so the GMC will construct an RUB of 8.5 metres in width and 4.5 metres in height. 

She said that a meeting with the Guntur railway DRM, V.J. Bhuma, was held and the GMC sought permissions and cooperation of the railway department for the rest of the RUBs. She said that alre-ady notices were issued to the locals on the either side of the Nehru Nagar railway gate to acquire land for RUB and notices would be given soon for RUB at Syamala Nagar. 

She added that GMC is planning to complete RUB on a top priority basis  to resolve the increasing traffic difficulties in Guntur city.