Road studs were installed on the glossy paint stripes on the Chingrighata flyover early on Thursday to reduce the risk of skidding, a day after three motorcyclists lost control one after another.
The accidents occurred around 5.30am on Wednesday, when a drizzle had left the flyover wet.
The studs, which contain reflective material to improve visibility, are generally installed in straight lines to guide motorists and mark lane boundaries and road edges. “On the Chingrighata flyover, they have been placed across the width of the road at 10-metre intervals to make motorists slow down before negotiating a sharp turn,” a senior KMDA engineer said.
The flyover was closed around midnight on Wednesday for the installation. It could not be reopened immediately because the studs needed time to cure, engineers said. It was finally opened to traffic around 8am on Thursday.
The closure triggered congestion during the morning rush hour, with traffic crawling on the Parama flyover and the Ultadanga-bound flank of EM Bypass as vehicles approached the Chingrighata crossing.
“From morning, the number of vehicles reaching Chingrighata from the south kept increasing by the hour,” a senior Kolkata Police officer said.
The decision to install studs followed an inspection of the accident site by police officers and their KMDA counterparts on Wednesday evening. After considering several safety measures, they settled on the studs as an interim fix to reduce the risk of skidding. A permanent solution is expected to be considered after Puja.
Police maintained that there was no evidence linking the accidents to the flyover’s paint. Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand said the preliminary investigation had not established a connection. Investigators would also examine whether anyone had been making social media reels while driving, he said.
Urban development minister Agnimitra Paul said anti-skid paint had been used on the flyover and that the police would investigate the accidents. “Corrective steps would follow,” she said.
The accidents also brought the Gariahat flyover, which has similar painted strips, under scrutiny.
On Thursday, Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh posted a video on social media purportedly showing paint being washed off a flyover and questioned the state government’s beautification drive.
“If unscientific and dangerous colours had to be removed from the flyovers, why were they painted? Who will take responsibility for the accidents? Whose money was used?” Ghosh asked.
Paul countered that the anti-skid paint used to beautify the city ahead of Puja had been funded through CSR initiatives, not public money.
“I was returning to Calcutta on Wednesday and there was an accident on the highway due to skidding. No paint was used there. We still don’t know whether the accidents were due to the paint,” the minister told reporters.
The police said the Gariahat flyover did not present the same challenge as Chingrighata because it was relatively straight and lacked sharp turns. There were no immediate plans to install studs there, an officer said.
The fallout extended beyond Calcutta. In Asansol, around 215km away, paint used on Shaheed Bhagat Singh More was washed off with high-pressure mechanical sprayers.