Barriers by traffic police lead to snarls near Noida Film City

Noida traffic police insists that the measure is to prevent traffic pressure on main arterial roads from connecting roads and flyovers.

Traffic coming from Noida’s Film City as well as from Rajnigandha underpass going towards the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway has been forced to a crawl over the past two months with the traffic police erecting a slew of barricades on the stretch in an attempt to convert a three-lane road into a single lane during peak traffic hours. A similar situation prevails at the Film City loop from Sector 18, connecting Noida to Delhi Link Road.

Traffic police say that barricades are placed only during peak hours to avoid a “gridlock” situation. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The Noida traffic police, however, insists that the measure is to prevent traffic pressure on main arterial roads from connecting roads and flyovers.

But it leads to long queues of vehicles, irking commuters.

“I regularly use the Film City loop to reach Delhi via Chilla Border. For the past few months, traffic police block two of the three lanes towards the flyover’s end. It triggers massive congestion on the flyover. When three or four lanes were made for traffic, why is the traffic police turning them into one?” said Rakesh Gupta, a Delhi resident working at a private firm in Sector 18, Noida.

“For regular commuters, barricades are not a major issue but it shocks people taking the route for the first time. You’re travelling in the right lane and suddenly the lane is blocked, which causes congestion,” said Brajesh Sharma, a Sector 78 resident who travels to office in Delhi via the DND Flyway.

“At the Film City exit, the traffic police allow one vehicle at a time while all three lanes coming from Film City are jam-packed. The traffic police should find alternatives before causing unnecessary congestion. Earlier, I used to travel via Sector 16 and 18. But due to congestion on alternate routes, I now travel via the DND Flyway. If they (traffic police) clear alternate routes, the traffic pressure will automatically decrease on the main roads,” he added.

Traffic police, however, said they have put up the barricades after observing that the DND, Film City flyover loop, and Film City exit loop for over three hours on alternate days.

“It was found that after 10 to 15 minutes of normal flow (without barricades) at the DND and Film City flyover loop, traffic started piling up, which chokes all the roads—either it’s DND or Chilla,” said Noida’s deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (Traffic) Lakhan Singh Yadav.

“To avoid congestion on all roads, we have put up barricades to slow down the traffic pressure, ensuring a smooth merger and continued traffic flow with a slight delay. A traffic police personnel has been also deployed at all these crucial junctions to prevent congestion,” the DCP said, explaining that the Film City exit is blocked by barricades and only one lane is open for traffic due to safety measures and congestion management.

“If we continue the flow of Film City traffic without slowing it down at the turn by placing barricades, it will increase chances of accidents at 90° turn, as vehicles coming from the Chilla Border side cruise at high speed,” the officer added.

Traffic police say that barricades are placed only during peak hours to avoid a “gridlock” situation.

Anurag Kulshrestha, advisor to Gautam Budh Nagar’s road safety cell and president of TRAX, an NGO,said, “Blocking lanes at the end of the merging point increases congestion, road rage issues, and chances of accidents as everyone coming from congestion wants to enter open lane. Instead of blocking lanes with barricades, traffic police should channelise the traffic from 200 to 300 metres before the merging point.”

“There are multiple entries and exits for Film City. To avoid congestion at every entry and exit, the traffic police should fix the entry and exit points to facilitate office goers,” he added.

According to Noida traffic police data, more than 220,000 vehicles from DND and 110,000 from Chilla enter Noida every day.