New Delhi, June 9 -- Dhanbad, a district once in undivided Bihar and today in Jharkhand, has always been famous for its coal mines. Its mobility was assessed in a 2015 survey which predicted that if no action was taken to improve traffic conditions, the average network speed could drop from 23.54 kilometres per hour (km/h) to 14.89 km/h by 2035.

However, Dhanbad has already met this prediction a decade ahead. Currently, the average network speed has plummeted to just 10-12 km/h. This conclusion was drawn after Down To Earth (DTE) visited the city's main entry points, about 10 kilometres from its centre.

According to the 2011 Census, Dhanbad city, with a population of 1,560,394 (58.13 per cent of the total population), faces narrow, poo...