Commuters stuck on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway due to rain induced gridlock

The rain began around 5pm and quickly submerged key junctions along the Delhi-Jaipur highway. Long jams stretched from Signature Tower to Mahipalpur on the Delhi side and from Iffco Chowk to Rajiv Chowk in the opposite direction.

A sudden downpour on Tuesday evening once again brought Gurugram to a standstill, as heavy rain waterlogged key stretches of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and several arterial roads, triggering massive traffic snarls that left thousands of commuters trapped for hours again.

Traffic congestion at Delhi-Gurugram expressway after the heavy rain near Iffco chowk elevated U-turn on Tuesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The rain began around 5pm and quickly submerged key junctions along the Delhi-Jaipur highway. Long jams stretched from Signature Tower to Mahipalpur on the Delhi side and from Iffco Chowk to Rajiv Chowk in the opposite direction. It took many commuters over an hour — in some cases, nearly two — to cover short distances on the expressway, as cars stood bumper to bumper under the pounding rain.

By 6pm, critical intersections such as Hero Honda Chowk, Shankar Chowk, Iffco Chowk, the Sirhaul toll plaza, and the Cloverleaf section of the Dwarka Expressway were all choked. The newly constructed Dwarka Expressway tunnel also turned into a bottleneck, with commuters reporting suffocation inside as vehicles inched forward.

Traffic crawled across large parts of the city, including Sikanderpur Ghosi in DLF Phase IV, Golf Course Extension Road, and Sector 36. Long queues of vehicles stretched for nearly two kilometres from Signature Towers to DLF Phase II on NH-48, and similar chaos was reported on the Ghata–Sector 56 road, Sohna Road near Badshahpur, and outside HUDA City Centre.

Frustrated commuters vented their anger on social media, accusing authorities of repeated failure to address Gurugram’s chronic problems of waterlogging and traffic mismanagement.

“Sir, the traffic conditions at Sector 18, Udyog Vihar, are pathetic. No traffic police here. Vehicles stuck everywhere. Standing for the last one hour at one place,” wrote Rajesh Agarwal on X, tagging Gurugram Police.

Another commuter, Bharat Nain, shared that it took him nearly 55 minutes to cross the Dwarka Expressway tunnel.

Rahul Kumar, a Sector 95 resident, said he was stuck on the Delhi-Jaipur highway for more than an hour and had to “wade through chaos” to get home. “More traffic personnel are needed on the ground during such rain,” he said.

Officials said the situation worsened as heavy rainfall combined with gusty winds disrupted visibility and movement. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) upgraded its alert from yellow to orange earlier in the afternoon, warning of intense showers. Between 5pm and 6pm, Gurugram recorded wind speeds of up to 33 kmph, with 75% cloud coverage and 90% humidity, IMD data showed.

The Gurugram Traffic Police said additional personnel were deployed as soon as traffic began slowing around 5pm. “We were prepared for the snarls in advance at key points on Golf Course Extension Road. Our teams on the ground were coordinating with local police stations to ease the congestion,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (traffic) Dr Rajesh Mohan.

Gurugram traffic police officials said that congestion clubbed with water logging near Mahipalpur and Samalkha in Delhi resulted upto five kilometres long traffic snarl on the carriageway of the Delhi-Jaipur expressway. The snarl reached upto Iffco Chowk trapping delaying movement towards Delhi.

DCP (traffic) Mohan said they were coordinating with the Delhi counterparts to manage the situation. “Cabs, private cars and other vehicles coming out of offices in a short span of time further intensified the snarl as employees delayed departure due to the evening rain,” he added.

By around 9pm, traffic police updates on X said movement had gradually resumed at major junctions such as Narsingpur and Atlas Chowk.

Heavy rains had similarly paralysed Gurugram in early September, when flash flooding caused severe gridlocks across the city.