Road reversal in central Calcutta
BETWEEN 8 AM AND 1 PM, traffic flows one way – from south east to northwest – along Calcutta’s Park Street. After 1 pm, traffic on this important thoroughfare flows one way but from northwest to southeast.
Park Street is one of several main roads in Calcutta on which the traffic flows in one direction until 1 pm,and then in the opposite direction from this time until 8am. It has long puzzled us as to what happens during the period when the direction reverses on these one way streets. Today, we discovered the answer.
The barrier was removed at 1257 pmWe were in a taxi at about 1250 pm, travelling east towards the start of Park Street. Some distance away from this point, there was a barrier preventing us and other vehicles from continuing towards Park Street. Our taxi and many other vehicles came to a halt at this barrier. Meanwhile, traffic coming towards us gradually diminished in volume to almost nothing.
At about 3 minutes to 1 pm, a traffic police officer slid away the barriers, and we began proceeding towards Park Street. Ours was one of the first cars to be travelling down Park Street from northwest to southeast.
Although I have visited many cities, it is only in Calcutta that I have seen this system of road reversal.
