Panaji, Feb 6 (TOI): On Tuesday, just before the Atal Setu was finally set to open for traffic, nine days after the bridge was formally inaugurated, people began queuing up from 9.15am itself. As chairperson of Goa state infrastructure development corporation, Deepak Pauskar arrived late, many citizens decided they could no longer wait and drove away via the old bridges.

Some, including former assistant solicitor general of India, Carlos Ferriera, later took to social media to express his irritation at having to wait to drive over the bridge.

GSIDC vice-chairman Sidharth Kuncalienkar and Pauskar symbolically opened the bridge for traffic on Tuesday by cutting a ribbon on both the Porvorim and Merces-ends of the new bridge. Among mainly BJP party workers and supporters, many citizens also lined up to drive over the bridge.

In the hurry to queue up, one four-wheeler driver drove into a divider and street light pole on the approach road to the bridge.

When traffic began to flow, drivers could be seen filming their first drive over the Atal Setu on their phones. There were no traffic police monitoring the bridge until later in the day, and two-wheelers making the best of the situation also drove over the bridge, though two and three-wheelers are not allowed on the new bridge.

Once the bridge was opened though, the traffic flow was eased to a large extent on the stretch, as expected.

Kuncalienkar said that between January 28 and February 4, when the Atal Setu was kept open for public to walk over it by foot, around 4.5 lakh citizens visited the bridge. Senior citizens, school students, including children from Sanjay School for Special Children, visited the bridge, Kuncalienkar said.

He said that the extended part of the Atal Setu project, the Ponda overbridge and the down ramp to Panaji, will be completed by March 31.

“The bridge has opened to serve the people of Goa for an expected lifespan of 100 years. It will relieve congestion at three junctions — Pundalik Nagar in Porvorim, the junction near Malim jetty and the Panaji KTC bus stand junction. It will especially help our taxi operators, who can now drive from Porvorim to Merces circle in less than five minutes,” Kuncalienkar said.

He said the bridge will also help save many lives as ambulances will no longer be caught up in traffic congestion on this stretch.

“We have worked out the new traffic arrangement so that vehicles do not intersect anywhere. It is for smooth and accident-free movement of traffic. It will be implemented phase-wise. In the first phase, Atal Setu has been opened for traffic, in the second phase both the older bridges will be made one-way, and in the third phase total traffic flow, including on the Panaji end, will be one way,” said Kuncalienkar.