Summers in Mussoorie usher in the period of thriving tourist activity that not only adds heritage value to the beautiful hill station but also forms the backbone of economy and livelihood for its people. However, along with the vivacity comes the recurrent and exasperating nuisance of traffic logjams and vehicular chaos due to poor parking and traffic management by the administration. For many tourists the much anticipated weekend getaway turns into a vexing ordeal as they spend fatiguing hours stuck in seemingly interminable traffic snarls en-route. Given this snag, it is common to hear travellers rue their decision of coming to Mussoorie vis-à-vis other nearby holiday destinations. Every year during the summer holiday season or long weekends locals and tourists visiting Mussoorie are harried by the woeful traffic situation that besets the Queen of Hills.
Inquisitive about what is being done by the administration to address this enduring problem, The Pioneer interviewed Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Pradeep Rai on the issue. And while admitting that much needs to be done in effective management of traffic flow from Dehradun to Mussoorie, Rai pointed out that three important steps were underway to make the area traffic congestion free by next year. In what augurs good news for locals and travellers alike, the popular hill station is likely to have modern methods of CCTV (closed circuit television) surveillance and an elaborate public address system soon for dealing with its unnerving traffic snarls, along with an alternative route and a new parking for 500 cars. Speaking to The Pioneer, Rai explained that achieving the most efficient traffic flow through a corridor involved coordination among the freeways and the surface streets in the corridor. “Around the world CCTV cameras are one of the primary methods of monitoring traffic conditions and detecting incidents. CCTV cameras allow an operator at the traffic management centre (TMC) to monitor traffic on both freeways and surface streets to determine the location of congestion and incidents. Once this integrated traffic management system is in place in Mussoorie we shall use the CCTV to monitor incidents or heavy congestion and use a sophisticated address system to alert drivers, to possibly divert traffic elsewhere wherever possible and to make timing plans to facilitate traffic flow,” he said. The SP (Traffic) also informed that as another solution, the alternative Hathipaonroute is being developed so that by the next tourist season the current route to Mussoorie would be made a one-way, thus easing traffic influx considerably.
Rai further informed that the state government has set up a Traffic Advisory Committee this year which has underscored the urgent need to develop parking availability in Mussoorie. “We did a study recently in which it has been found that Mussoorie has a capacity for parking 1500 vehicles. This includes government parking lots as well as the private parking of hotels. However, the number of local vehicles alone in the hill station is 3000. Each year during season from 8000 to 10,000 motor vehicles roll up to Mussoorie. Thus what we need urgently is to develop parking capacity, use modern technologically integrated traffic management systems and the most importantly, a substitute route. A parking facility with capacity of around 500 vehicles is being built in King Craig.”
As expressed by Mussoorie residents, given that tourism is the mainstay for the hill town it is crucial that these planned actions are implemented swiftly and efficiently.
