Slip road, widening on the cards to decongest Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan

Dhaula Kuan plans to widen NH-48, build a slip road, and address waterlogging to ease congestion. NHAI seeks land from Delhi Police for the project.

Road-owning agencies at Dhaula Kuan are planning to widen the carriageways of National Highway 48 (NH-48), develop a three-lane slip road, and implement a plan to resolve waterlogging issues, in a bid to decongest the key south Delhi junction and make commuting smoother, government officials said.

Officials said that the project will involve relocating a part of the frontside of the police post.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has requested the Delhi Police for a 785 square-metre land parcel at the Subroto Park police post for undertaking the work. The slip road will involve reconstruction and redesign of the area, officials said.

“The Dhaula Kuan junction has seen several improvement works. A meeting with NHAI was held to review the future decongestion action plan under which this junction was also taken up. A new three-lane dedicated slip road will be constructed for vehicles heading towards Naraina from NH-48 and land has been sought from Delhi Police to execute this work,” a government official said.

“Delhi Police has submitted a draft memorandum of understanding along with estimates and design for the redevelopment of the area. The file is currently under consideration by the NHAI,” the official said.

Officials said that the project will involve relocating a part of the frontside of the police post.

Delhi Police did not respond to requests for comment.

The infrastructure agency also plans to expedite work on securing permissions to widen the section of NH-48 near the Subroto Park Air Force station, for which around 78 trees would need to be felled or transplanted. “The initial permission for the transplantation was granted in 2024, but a work halt notice was issued in July last year, and a stay was granted by the court. That stay has been vacated and now the matter is being pursued with the Central Empowered Committee,” the official said.

The forest department did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2018, NHAI opened a slip lane allowing a free left at the Parade Road junction, as part of its Dhaula Kuan decongestion plan, which provided relief to airport-bound traffic. However, the junction remains perpetually clogged, and decongestion of this junction has been under the scanner of the central government.

The official said that the largescale waterlogging in the area is being treated in three different phases—the stretch between Dhaula Kuan junction and Parade Ground, the stretch between Parade Road junction and Ullan Batar Marg, and thirdly, on the Dwarka Road-Thimmaya Marg stretch.

“A field inspection has been carried out after which it was noticed that the drain along the NH-48 near pillar number 156 has no outlet, due to which waterlogging takes place and also floods the underpass leading to the Parade Road. Temporary pumps have been deployed, NHAI will desilt the drains and clear the outlet. PWD will also deploy pumps at Parade Ground for speedy disposal,” the official said.

Another government official said that the NHAI has released a ₹3.5-crore fund to the Delhi Cantonment Board to permanently resolve the issue, as part of which a study is in progress.

Last week, the Delhi government held a high-level coordination committee meeting with the NHAI to resolve various issues between the NHAI and the state agencies, to reduce congestion on the city’s arterial roads.

The meeting was attended by senior officials from NHAI, Delhi Traffic Police, Public Works Department (PWD), BSES, Delhi Jal Board (DJB), environment department, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Revenue department and power department. It focused on easing congestion at toll plazas, resolving revenue disputes, upgrading tolling systems, and removing encroachments, illegal advertisements and waste dumping along national highways in the Capital.

Congestion hot spots at Sirhol–Rajokri Border (NH-48), Delhi–Meerut Expressway (Package-I toll plaza), Badarpur Border (NH-19/44), and Dwarka Expressway toll plaza near Bijwasan were flagged.