Amid Chirag Delhi snarls, PWD set to expedite work

Officers from the Delhi traffic police said they were manually operating the traffic lights on the stretch to ensure snarls are handled dynamically.

With the closure of a carriageway of the Chirag Delhi flyover keeping commuters locked in glacial traffic for four days now, the state public works department (PWD) on Wednesday ordered a spate of measures to speed up repairs on the crucial bypass, including deputing more construction labourers and continuing constructions till 10pm.

Workers repair expansion joints on the Chirag Delhi flyover on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Additionally, officers from the Delhi traffic police said they were manually operating the traffic lights on the stretch to ensure snarls are handled dynamically.

The steps come a day after Delhi PWD minister Atishi ordered officials of the department to complete repairs at the flyover within 30 days, instead of 50 days, as earlier planned.

A PWD official associated with the project said 45-50 labourers are working to repair the flyover, the Nehru Place to IIT-Delhi carriageway of which was shut on Sunday evening, throwing traffic there into disarray.

“Around 30 construction workers were deputed earlier,” said the official, adding that repairs will be carried out for sixteen hours a day.

“We start work around 8am and continue till 10pm. All efforts are being put to expedite the process,” added the official.

However, for a fourth day, brutal snarls continued to beset commuters heading west on Outer Ring Road. Traffic has crawled between Kalkaji Mandir and the Chirag Delhi crossing, with commuters spending between 30 and 40 minutes on the trip, which usually takes no longer than five or seven minutes.

Rajkumar Singh, a shopkeeper who operates an outlet near Masjid Moth said that while traffic remained jammed, the situation during the day was relatively better than Monday. “Traffic jams on first day snaked back till Kalkaji and Modi Mill but the situation seemed better today,” he added.

Residents of GK-2, CR Park, Kalkaji, and other neighbourhoods on the left of the affected carriageway found it near impossible to avoid the mess, with snarls at nearly every exit on to Outer Ring Road, including at Savitri Cinema, EPDP Main Road and Nehru Enclave.

Sunil Aggarwal, a commuter heading from Okhla phase 2 towards RK Puram said that the traffic remained terribly congested on the route. “This is the second time I have been stuck in this jam. From next time, I will use the Metro till this repair work is completed,” he added.

The traffic, residents and commuters said, has now spilled on to neighbouring, and hitherto unaffected, stretches.

For instance, throughout Wednesday, travellers heading from Moolchand towards the Chirag Delhi intersection were stuck in traffic for half an hour or more. Commuters said this was possibly because of shorter green-lights on that carriageway.

A Delhi traffic police officer on Wednesday said the signal below the intersection was being operated manually, depending on inputs from either side of the crossing.

“We are trying to prevent a queue length beyond Savitri but others have to be taken care of as well,” the official added. The pass-over green light time along the Nehru Place towards IIT at surface level was over 1.30 minutes.

Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture, said agencies should explore the idea of utilising the same carriageway for bi-directional movement. “In the morning, the number of vehicles travelling towards Nehru Place would be higher, and vice versa in the evening. Agencies can take a call on using the one available carriageway for movement in both directions, depending on the demand,” he added.