Chittaranjan Avenue

Chittaranjan Avenue

C.R. Avenue
Chittaranjan Avenue in Kolkata, captured from MG Road crossing
Former name(s)	Central Avenue
Maintained by	Kolkata Municipal Corporation
Location	Kolkata, India
Postal code	700006, 700007, 700012, 700072
Nearest Kolkata Metro station	Girish Park, MG Road, Central, Chandni Chowk, Esplanade
north end	Girish Park
south end	Esplanade

Chittaranjan Avenue, more commonly C.R. Avenue (Formerly Central Avenue), a principal north-south thoroughfare in Central-North Kolkata. It starts from Beadon Street (Dani Ghosh Sarani/Abhedananda Road) crossing (Girish Park) in the north and ends at Chowringhee Road-Bentinck Street Junction (Esplanade) in the south. The road is renamed after Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, a nationalist politician and freedom-fighter of India. ^[1] North of Beadon Street crossing, Chittaranjan Avenue becomes Jatindra Mohan Avenue. ^[2]

Significance

Traffic Jam on C.R. Avenue

The road is arterial in maintaining north to central and vice versa connection in Kolkata. The road remains always busy. A major portion of the Kolkata Metro Line 1 runs beneath this road. Several important places are on this road, including Beadon Street crossing, Girish Park, Vivekananda Road crossing, Jorasanko, Mahajati Sadan, MG Road crossing, Kolkata Medical College, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Bowbazar, Khirode Vidya Binode Avenue-Dr. Lalit Banerjee Sarani crossing, B.B. Ganguly Street crossing, Ganesh Chandra Avenue crossing, Chandni Chowk and Esplanade. This thoroughfare (earlier known as the 'Central Avenue') was built by the Calcutta Improvement Trust during the inter-war period. The process included massive displacement of populations in the central city. Social dislocations during the street-building process found expression in contemporary urban conflicts. ^{[3] [4]}

Operation

The road is bi-directional throughout the day. Certain crossings are however unidirectional, that is, in certain crossings vehicles can turn only in a specific direction and the other direction-turning is a punishable crime.

Gallery

• 
  Jorasanko Thakur Bari Gate, C.R. Avenue
• 
  Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, C.R. Avenue
• 
  Airlines House, C.R. Avenue
• 
  Yogayog Bhawan, C.R. Avenue

References

1. "10 facts you shouldn't miss about the 'Deshbandhu'". 16 June 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
2. Google maps
3. See Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay, Streets in Motion: The Making of Infrastructure, Property, and Political Culture in Twentieth-century Calcutta, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/streets-in-motion/2D42F4BF0D2086A1DBB254A5120ACB42
4. Bandyopadhyay, Ritajyoti (2022). Streets in Motion. doi:10.1017/9781009109208. ISBN   9781009109208. S2CID   250200020.