Commuters had a harrowing time making their way to the city centre and other parts of the metropolis on Friday, as a part of the arterial Diamond Harbour Road remained closed following the collapse of a section of the Majerhat bridge.
The Kolkata Police said it is trying to cut down travel time and mitigate problems faced by the commuters.
Long queues of buses and other vehicles moved at a snail's pace in large parts of south and west Kolkata, owing to the closure Diamond Harbour Road at Majerhat.
"We are trying our best to shorten travel time," Additional Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Vineet Goyal told reporters here.
He said the traffic police has issued travel advisories on alternate avenues, which are lesser known and less congested.
Goyal said Kolkata Police is coordinating with neighbouring districts for better movement of goods vehicles, without congesting the major roads that link the city with the national highways.
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Serpentine queues of goods vehicles were reported at various entry points to the city.
Goyal said that entry-exit time of trucks to and from the metropolis has been shortened by a few hours to ensure smoother movement of passenger vehicles in the affected parts of the city.
People travelling in the south-western parts of the city and South 24 Parganas district said they faced an average delay of one hour to two-and-a-half hours in reaching their destinations.
"It took me two-and-a-half hours to travel only five kilometres from my residence at New Alipore to Calcutta High Court this morning," said lawyer Billwadal Bhattacharyya.
"We will have to live with this problem for a long time now till the bridge is rebuilt," he said.
Office-goers and students were late, too, owing to the traffic snarls that extended to Rashbehari Avenue and Tollygunge Circular Road-S P Mukherjee Road crossing in south Kolkata.
Meanwhile, Metro Railway will run additional services on weekends to alleviate the woes being faced by commuters in Behala and adjoining areas, a Metro spokesperson said.
On Saturdays, 250 services will be run instead of 224 and on Sundays, it will be 136 instead of 110, the spokesperson said.
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