September 4: The Thimphu- Phuentsholing highway is the kingdom’s lifeline. Everyday thousands of people including businessmen, students, and pilgrims travel between the capital city and the border town.

But of late, travelling along the highway has become tedious and risky with frequent landslides and falling boulders.

As drivers on both sides of the highway wait impatiently, a lone bulldozer struggles to clear the obstruction as soon as possible. The frequent road blocks and a number of accidents claiming the lives people have raised concerns among the public.

People travelling between Thimphu and Phuentsholing agree that a bigger, wider road is necessary but with the road widening work, frequent landslides and falling boulders triggered by the monsoon rains, travel has become risky not to mention troublesome.

Travelers get stranded for hours whenever there is a road block. Major landslides take days to clear.

Truck drivers and owners transporting perishable goods like vegetables or fruit have not only to worry about when the road block would be cleared. They risk losing their consignment of goods and thousands of Ngultrums if the blocks get prolonged.

As frustrated travelers wait and complain, DANTAK labourers do their best, working tirelessly under heavy downpour and dodging boulders under a thick blanket of fog.

Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) officials at the block sites said it is very difficult to deal with road blocks. Sometimes the road blocks are so huge, the whole ridge comes sliding down.

The labourers begin their day by seven in the morning and continue till seven in the evening with a brief lunch break. It is a daunting task.

The Thimphu-Phuentsholing highway is the lifeline of the kingdom with thousands of people travelling on this highway everyday. It is therefore important to keep it open at all times and ensure the safety of the travelers. But it is also important for the road widening work to progress uninterrupted.

It has now been decided that the highway will remain closed on Mondays and Tuesdays to facilitate the road widening work.

The Information and Communication Minister, Lyonpo Nandalal Rai said they tried to look at the feasibility of making a bypass especially at Taktikothi but it is not possible. He said the only thing that can be done now is to regulate the flow of traffic.

Vehicles queue at the block site to allow vehicles coming from the other side to pass. But often motorists rush forward to occupy every available space. Others follow blocking the way for vehicles coming from the opposite direction and resulting in congestion and confusion. Traffic jams like these can last for hours before they are sorted out.

Businesses along the highway are not complaining. They have benefited from the roadblocks. Thanks to the roadblocks, restaurants and shops have no dearth of customers. Some have eve been accused of cashing in on the situation and hiking the price of goods.

Traveling along the Thimphu-Phuentsholing highway has become difficult, time consuming, and risky.

Authorities are cautioning the public to avoid making unnecessary travel. But the constant stream of traffic, it seems, will not cease even for a moment. The only consolation is that, not too far in the future, they will zoom along a smooth wide double lane road highway.