Panel formed to study traffic near Metro stations in Ghaziabad
GDA officials said the committee will comprise officials from GDA, the district administration, the traffic police and the DMRC.
The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has constituted a committee of officials to find out possible traffic bottlenecks at the eight stations of the upcoming Metro stretch. This committee will also suggest alternative routes and means to accommodate passengers when the 9.41km Metro route becomes operational by November.
A meeting in this regard was held with officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday.
Authority officials said the committee will comprise officials from GDA, the district administration, the traffic police and the DMRC.
“The committee will submit its report in the first week of October and suggest ways to decongest the road outside the eight stations as we do not have parking facilities. We may go in for construction of extra bays for streamlining road transport modes such as autos, e-rickshaws and even the buses. The routes of the buses will also be studied for this purpose,” Kanchan Verma, GDA vice-chairperson, said.
She said the other issue discussed with the DMRC was parking problems that will arise, causing bottlenecks outside the eight stations on the elevated section on both sides of the GT Road.
“The issue is of parking which will begin when passengers start using the eight Metro stations on the 9.41km Metro line. During the meeting, the DMRC assured us that commencement of operations on the route will not be delayed beyond November under no circumstance,” Verma said.
She added that experts from the Central Road Research Institute can also be roped in to the committee as it is already preparing a ‘comprehensive mobility plan’ for streamlining traffic in Ghaziabad.
The issue for the authority is that it has parking at only two stations, one at the New bus stand and the other at the Hindon river.
Except at these two Metro stations, the authority has no parking space available for accommodating road transport vehicles.
The construction work for the route is complete and the DMRC has already begun trials. The stretch has stations at Shaheed Nagar, Raj Bagh, Rajendra Nagar, Shyam Park, Mohan Nagar, Arthala, Hindon river and the New bus stand. The project is pegged at ₹2,210 crore as per the revised detailed project report.
Sources said the 2012-13 detailed project report of the route had estimated a ridership of nearly one lakh passengers on a daily basis but the figure is expected to rise. “This is the only route in the metro network where the platforms have been constructed on the central verge of the GT Road with exits on both sides of the road at each station,” a DMRC source said.
Traffic congestion outside the eight upcoming Metro stations will be a major issue for commuters.
“The Vaishali Metro station has ample parking facilities available besides a multilevel parking lot constructed by the GDA. Still, vehicles line up on the main road. If a similar situation comes up outside stations on the GT Road, it would become a major traffic mess,” Vikrant Sharma, a resident of Raj Nagar Extension, said.
