Monday 5 December 2016

Toll plazas on highway cause huge traffic jams

By Udumula Sudhakar Reddy

Large traffic jams are being witnessed at the toll gates on National Highway 9, with the number of vehicles increasing by up to 30 per cent ahead of the holiday weekend. GMR authorities said up to 25,000 vehicles cross the Pathangi toll gate on normal days, and this increases by 30 per cent during Sankranti.

GMR officials said 18,000 to 20,000 vehicles, including cars, pass through Chilla-kalu, near Jaggaiahpet, at normal times. This had gone up by up to 6,000 vehicles, mostly cars and buses. “We have deployed more staff at the gates and issuing receipts manually as well,” said a GMR official.


The toll gates are located at Panthangi near Choutuppal, Gorla Pahad near Nakrekal and Chillakallu. The fourth toll plaza at Keesara in Krishna district is owned by a Malaysian firm and also witnesses a bottleneck. Vijayawada native A.B. Kalyan said, “The traffic jam at toll gates is unacceptable. The time saved on the highway is lost at the gates. Sometimes we are stuck for more than 30 minutes at each gate. They should have introduced the RFD chip reading system. Earlier they used to give one ticket for all the three gates but the same was stopped.”

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