U-turn on Mathura Road not feasible: CRRI tells police

CRRI has deemed a proposed U-turn near Supreme Court's Gate F unfeasible, citing increased congestion on Mathura Road and existing traffic issues.

The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) has told Delhi Police that it was not feasible to create a U-turn near Gate F of the Supreme Court, noting that it would worsen traffic congestion on Mathura road. Police had sought CRRI’s opinion after lawyers approached them on the issue.

Mathura Road often sees heavy traffic during peak hours. (HT Archive)

A traffic police officer aware of the developments said, “We received a letter from the advocates at the Supreme Court after which we wrote to CRRI to check its feasibility. We have received a response and we are examining it.”

In a letter dated September 13, addressed to the CRRI director, police said that they have received communication through the assistant registrar at the Supreme Court asking about the feasibility of creating a U-turn near “Gate F Mathura Road, main building campus, Supreme Court of India” to “avoid congestion on Bhagwan Das Road and Mathura Road”.

“It is, therefore, requested that necessary directions may please be passed to the concerned officials for survey/ constructing a speed breaker at the identified location,” the letter read.

Two days later, CRRI’s chief scientist Dr S Velumurugan visited the site with a traffic inspector and also took photographs.

“The traffic flow on the Mathura Road is operating to its capacity in the vicinity of the Supreme Court during peak hours. It is noted that the Left Hand Side (LHS) and Right Hand Side (RHS) of the six-lane divided stretch of the Mathura Road in the vicinity of Supreme Court Area has a lot of unauthorised parking,” the scientist noted in his report to the police.

He also noted that there is an existing restricted U-turn to facilitate the traffic bound towards Supreme Court metro station. “It was observed during the site visit that the above U-turn is located within 100m from the proposed U-turn demanded near the Gate F entry to access the main building campus of the Supreme Court of India,” he wrote.

Moreover, the W-Point signalised intersection is located within another 100 to 150 metre from the existing U-turn. “Access to the Supreme Court metro station will face huge traffic congestion, if an additional median opening is made opposite to Gate F,” Velumurugan observed in his report.

CRRI, in its report said, considering the above issues on the ground, it is not technically feasible to create an additional U-turn near Gate F located on Mathura Road. “Such an additional U-turn provision will increase the congestion further on the Mathura Road. On the other hand, the width of the existing restricted U-turn leading to Supreme Court metro station may be increased to 15 to 20m, if the ground conditions permit, considering the fact that small trees are present on the median of the Mathura Road,” it said.

Supreme Court Bar Association joint secretary Meenesh Dubey said that they wrote to Delhi Traffic Police after they inspected the place themselves. “There is a metro station and a traffic signal which caused massive traffic snarls. It takes us about 30 minutes to go to the new building for functions. Not just Supreme Court advocates, it impacts other commuters too,” he said.

The Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor project was undertaken to turn this section of Mathura road into a signal free stretch for smooth commuting.The main tunnel and five underpasses were inaugurated in June 2022.