The Expressway Again

The Expressway has been in the news for some time now for its dividers, dangers, over speeding and pedestrians crossing any where they like.

Many of the problems of the expressway were originally created by not properly planning, studying and consulting before its construction.

The solutions of today being implemented by Thimphu Thromde also seem to be heading in the same direction as well. Though the speed bumpers have been built with the best of intentions along the road it is already starting to cause numerous problems.

With poor lighting at night along the expressway where entire sections are dark cars have been ‘flying’ off late as they unexpectedly come across these dark bumpers.

During the day another problem is that given the poor visibility of these bumpers the cars behind have no idea that the car in front is slowing down for a bumper with the result that there have been some small accidents.

At this rate I will not be surprised if the Thimphu Thromde is forced to remove the bumpers in a few years time.

I feel that the long term solution would be construction foot over bridges like in Bangkok. If they are properly built and executed then Pedestrians would use them to cross the roads like Pedestrians in Bangkok do.

I am not a fan of an underpass which will ultimately result in maintenance issues like poor lighting and flooding and also undesirable and anti-social activities which was seen with the underpass on Doebum lam.

The speed bumps on the Expressway for now need to be more visible, even in the dark, there should be more awareness done on it and it should be tried for a while, but if it does not work, then it should be removed.

The Expressway also urgently needs to have pullover lanes so that cars and taxis can pull over to pick up or drop people.

The traffic slowdowns and even accidents occur when cars and especially taxis or buses suddenly stop to pick up or drop people off in the middle of rush hour.

We also need to have more stringently policing of the expressway so that not only over speeding but also bad driving and illegal parking can be caught and punished.

Namgay

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