The Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) has proposed to take up widening of 10 highly congested roads between Main Road and Mahatab Road under the Smart City plan.
Earlier, the proposal was included in the Comprehensive Development Plan and the City Development Plan.
The undivided Rourkela city, which has a population of about 525,000, is estimated to have 200,000 vehicles and continues to grapple with traffic problems due to a lack of adequate parking lots, Indian Express reported.
The administration has decided to go ahead with ongoing expansion of the Main Road to ease traffic pressure. However, given the limited availability of space on the road, diversion of vehicular traffic to Mahatab Road that runs parallel from Traffic Gate to Uditnagar, is indispensable.
For 25 years now, driving on Mahatab Road remains a nightmare as slum dwellers have illegally encroached on this area.
Rourkela RMC administrator K Sudershan Chakravorty said Mahatab Road would be activated with development of slums there. At present, removal of encroachments to widen the connecting road links has become essential, he added. Road infrastructure projects proposed under Smart City are likely to ease traffic in the city.