No update on Google maps, multi-lane mergers: Traffic chaos continues on Delhi's Barapullah Phase 3

In one of the posts, the traffic police explained that the main cause of the traffic snarls is a structural bottleneck at the old Barapullah flyover.

After a temporary three-day respite due to holidays, the sprawling traffic crisis on the newly inaugurated Barapullah Phase-III and its connecting roads, such as the existing Barapullah corridor, the Ring Road, Delhi-Noida Link Road and the DND corridor, resumed on Monday.

Many commuters took to social media to lament about the traffic gridlock and draw attention to the traffic police and the government towards the problems they faced. (HT Photo)

Hundreds of motorists and commuters have been facing traffic snarls on the route since morning. Even as the Delhi Traffic Police claim they have deployed personnel to regulate traffic flow, the chaos continues.

Standstill traffic and bottlenecks

Commuters have been alleging near standstill traffic on the newly opened flyway, due to which traffic jams have spilt onto the Noida-Delhi Link Road and other alternate routes.

Apart from the existing Barapullah corridor and its newly opened flyway, traffic is also moving at a snail’s pace on the Ring Road between Ashram and Sarai Kale Khan, leading to bottlenecks cascading onto the alternate routes.

“The traffic jam at Barapullah is getting completely out of hand, and @dtptraffic isn't able to manage it. Traffic from 15 lanes has been merged into just three lanes—what could be more chaotic than this? The corridor, which was touted as a boon to reach AIIMS in 15 minutes, is now in such a state that vehicles and passengers are stuck groaning in hours-long jams. @gupta_rekha,” a commuter posted on X along with two video clips showing the traffic snarls.

Multi-lane mergers and Google Maps adding to chaos

Another commuter used the same platform and posted, “The flyover is already completely choked - interestingly Google shows that the path is all clear and the traffic is bumper-to-bumper: stuck here on the newly inaugurated link for over 30 minutes and it seems no one has any clue what they are constructing!.”

A third commuter posted, “@dtptraffic Barapullah Phase III is completely blocked. The traffic has been at a standstill for an hour now. Why isn’t there a traffic policeman manning this particular stretch? Even ambulances are stuck.”

The traffic police have been using the same social media platforms to inform commuters about the existing problems, including the merging of multi-lane traffic into three lanes on the Ring Road and the old Barapullah corridor, and that traffic congestion on the newly opened corridor is still not reflected on Google Maps.

In one of the posts, the traffic police explained that the main cause of the traffic snarls, after the opening of the Barapullah Phase-III, is a structural bottleneck at the old Barapullah flyover. The post said that their width analysis shows that the width of the old Barapullah flyover (Phase I and II) is of three lanes, while the width of the newly opened Barapullah Phase-III flyover from the Mayur Vihar side is also approximately three lanes. Additionally, the Sarai Kale Khan loop and the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) loop are each three lanes wide.

“Thus, traffic of approximately 8-9 lanes converges into 3 lanes at a single point on the old Barapulah flyover. Moreover, Google has yet to update the live flow of traffic and is showing the newly opened corridor green at all times. We have deployed traffic personnel for merging and regulating the traffic,” said a traffic police officer, who asked not to be identified.

The newly opened stretch of Barapullah, connecting Mayur Vihar with the existing elevated corridor, has drawn substantial traffic volumes that would otherwise have travelled through NH-24 and the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) flyway, officials explained. But instead of smoothly distributing this traffic, the new corridor is funnelling large numbers of vehicles into bottlenecks where multiple lanes abruptly merge into fewer lanes, they said.