Flyovers In Guwahati: Solution Or Showoff?

An insightful take on Guwahati’s urban mobility challenges, inspired by Binayak Choudhury’s original article on flyovers in Guwahati published in The Assam Tribune.

There’s no two ways about it—India’s Smart City Mission, launched with much fanfare on 25th June 2015, has, by and large, done a decent job of tightening a few screws where urban living is concerned. From tackling urban flooding to sharpening up public healthcare, sorting out the rubbish (quite literally) and getting us moving a bit faster (mobility-wise, not evolutionarily), things do seem to be ticking along, at least on paper. So let me share an adaption from an original article by Binayak Choudhury, Faculty, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, published in The Assam Tribune titled “Will GNB Flyover solve Guwahati’s traffic woes? Planners fear a missed opportunity”.

Assam, for its part, appears to be keeping pace with the pack, if the Economic Survey of India 2024-25 is anything to go by. Still, when the rubber hits the road, Guwahati—the proud capital—finds itself huffing and puffing to catch up, especially in the small matters of potable water and efficient public transport. A bit like inviting the whole village over for a party and realising you’re down to half a bottle of lemonade and a rusty old bicycle.

To be fair, the government hasn’t exactly been twiddling its thumbs, but as Binayak Choudhury rightly points out, there’s a touch of planning myopia—a sort of urban short-sightedness—that might just land Guwahati back at square one, with all the grace of a tipsy ballerina.

Mobility, one might argue, is now the fourth basic human need, after food, clothing, and shelter. And when it comes to getting from A to B without losing your sanity, two things matter most: shorter journey times and lighter wallets. The trick, of course, is keeping the roads flowing freely—no mean feat when every Tom, Dick, and Hari is hurtling down the same stretch of tarmac.

Enter the flyover—that gleaming monument to modernity! Guwahati’s first five attempts at aerial escapism—Maligaon Chariali, Panbazar, B Borooah Road, Chandmari, and Narengi—were absolute corkers. They soared neatly over railway lines without bottling up the side streets below, keeping the city’s veins just about unclogged.

Subsequent flyovers? Well, they’ve been a bit more of a dog’s breakfast. Traffic at junctions still looks like a scene from a disaster movie, only without the Hollywood special effects.

And now, onto the latest brainwave—the Noonmati-Guwahati Club flyover. From the sound of it, it’s shaping up to be the urban planning equivalent of attempting brain surgery with a sledgehammer.

According to Mr Choudhury’s keen observations:

• While the old flyovers hop gracefully over one T-junction, the Noonmati-Chandmari beauty will attempt to leap over four.

• Where others duck past four arterial roads at most, this plucky number will tackle no fewer than 26 roads (19 on the left, 7 on the right), many linking to hefty neighbourhoods sprawling beyond the railway tracks.

• And instead of floating peacefully over sleepy side streets, this flyover will hover over a bustling cluster of government offices, schools, markets, nursing homes, and what have you—a veritable potpourri of city life.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that, once open, the road below the flyover (MRD Road, to the initiated) will still resemble a rather chaotic whirling dervish of traffic. Not to mention, thanks to the limited connectivity—only Parag Das Path and Heydeyetpur Road feeding onto the flyover—the remaining 24 arterial roads will be left fighting it out for elbow room, like bargain hunters at a Boxing Day sale.

And no, before you ask, sticking a ramp at every street corner isn’t exactly practical. Unless, of course, one fancies turning Guwahati into the world’s first rollercoaster-themed city.

A simpler, more sensible plan? Well, Mr Choudhury has one up his sleeve, and frankly, it’s as plain as the nose on your face:

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1. Declare the entire Parag Das Path to Guwahati Club stretch a strict no-parking zone—not even a bicycle leaning against a lamppost.

2. Build U-segregators at every busy T-junction to prevent right turns from becoming free-for-alls.

3. Install a continuous, minimum-width median strip, with only strategic openings for the U-segregators.

Low-cost, low-drama, high impact. What’s not to love?

In short, if we’re really serious about giving Guwahatians wings, perhaps it’s time to stop building flyovers just for the sake of flying over—and start planning with our feet firmly on the ground.

Otherwise, we might all find ourselves stuck under yet another flyover, dreaming of the good old days when a traffic jam just meant a quick detour through someone’s back garden.