Pedestrian-friendly trial suspended at Rajiv Chowk within 12 hrs

Gurugram: The redesigning of Rajiv Chowk aimed at making the intersection safer for pedestrians was suspended on Thursday morning, 12 hours after it was initiated

Gurugram: The redesigning of Rajiv Chowk aimed at making the intersection safer for pedestrians was suspended on Thursday morning, 12 hours after it was initiated by Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ). Traffic police officials said that the trial led to congestion, forcing them to remove the cones installed by HVZ for segregating traffic and pedestrian movement at this junction. However, the trial may resume on the weekend, officials familiar with the matter said.

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The trial, which started at 11.30pm on Wednesday, was stopped at 11.30am on Thursday. Azad Singh of traffic police station-1, said, “The trial was stopped because there was congestion at Rajiv Chowk.”

Another traffic police official, stationed at the junction, questioned the need of putting cones and causing congestion. Som Dutt, zonal officer, traffic police, who was stationed at Rajiv Chowk, said, “I must suggest to the people who are doing these trials that Rajiv Chowk was free from any sort of congestion earlier, so why did they do this?”

On Wednesday night, HVZ had installed barricades, traffic cones, jersey barriers and used paint to demarcate space to make the intersection safer for pedestrian movement. The police officials had been given A3 size maps (in colour and black & white) of the changes at Rajiv Chowk. Traffic marshals were also deployed at the junction to help people cross the main carriageway by stopping the approaching traffic.

Ishan Gogoi, HVZ project associate, said, “After taking observations from Thursday in notice, the adjustments in the trial will be done accordingly in the next few days. The trial is focused on reducing road fatalities and promoting safety for all the road users of Rajiv Chowk.”

The redesigning of this junction was done by HVZ in association with the World Resources Institute (WRI), a research organisation. Priyanka Sulkhlan, manager, architect urban designer, WRI, said, “The DCP (traffic) called a meeting on Thursday after the trial was stopped, and told us to analyse traffic movement from Subhash Chowk to Rajiv Chowk and see how the traffic can be diverted towards Medanta road, to utilise U-turn underpass towards Delhi. We will carry out the trials this weekend.”

The need for redesigning the junction was felt as only a few pedestrians use the foot over bridges at Rajiv Chowk. “The purpose of the trial is to improve road safety and that was something which we had aimed at Rajiv Chowk. Today, our only focus remains on traffic congestion; instead it should be road safety. Rajiv Chowk has seen more than 15 fatalities over three years, which should be the focus,” added Sulkhlan.