Gurugram The traffic congestion on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on Thursday morning affected vehicular flow on arterial roads of the city on Thursday. The Delhi Police placed barricades at the major border points — Sirhaul toll on the expressway, Kapashera and Aya Nagar on the Mehrauli-Gurugram Road — to check entry of protesters into the capital.
Traffic police officials said that congestion was reported around 8.15am at Sirhaul border, around 9.15am at Dundahera border and around 9.30am at Aya Nagar. Subsequently, the traffic movement was impacted in different parts of the city, with vehicles moving slower in Cyber City, Shankar Chowk, Golf Course Road Extension, Udyog Vihar, Hero Honda Chowk, Khandsa Chowk and Khushboo Chowk.
Rajesh, traffic inspector, highway, said, “The barricades were placed around 7am after which the congestion was reported at Sirhaul around 8.15am. Delhi Police allowed only one vehicle to pass at a time. On usual days, around 150 to 200 vehicles pass the expressway per minute. However, today (Thursday), each vehicle was taking around three minutes to pass, which led to heavy congestion.”
One of the worst affected areas on the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway was Shankar Chowk as vehicles moving from Cyber City to Delhi and those coming from Delhi to Udyog Vihar choked the entire area.
{{/usCountry}}One of the worst affected areas on the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway was Shankar Chowk as vehicles moving from Cyber City to Delhi and those coming from Delhi to Udyog Vihar choked the entire area.
{{/usCountry}}Surinder, a traffic police official deployed at Shankar Chowk, said that in order to decongest the intersection, officials tried to divert traffic on multiple routes without success. “We could not bring the traffic congestion under control until the Delhi Police removed barricades from the borders,” he said.
Due to the congestion at Shankar Chowk, traffic movement was severely impacted in Cyber city, on Golf Course Extension Road and Sikanderpur.
Amit, a traffic police officer present at Bristol Chowk, said, “In our area, Sikanderpur was severely choked. Traffic congestion was reported here around 9am. A part of the Golf Course Extension Road was also affected. We diverted the traffic going from Golf Course Road to Sikanderpur towards Iffco Chowk.”
Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Sector 23, said that the Old Delhi Gurgaon Road was severely congested in the afternoon. “Vehicles from all parts of the city were going towards Kapashera and Bijwasan to avoid the Sirhaul border, but this caused a gridlock. Traffic from Udyog Vihar also spilled onto this side and led to jams,” he said.
Similarly, the Hero Honda Chowk also remained congested till around 11.30am. Traffic movement was affected till the Kherki Daula toll plaza. Traffic police said that they stopped the vehicles going towards Delhi and diverted them towards Subhash Chowk and Sector 10.
A traffic police official, posted at Hero Honda Chowk, requesting anonymity, said, “The congestion extended up to the Kherki Daula toll plaza. The underpass at the intersection was also completely choked. The traffic movement improved around 2.45pm and by 4pm, the vehicles were moving smoothly.”
Traffic police said that the Delhi Police removed the barricades from the border areas around 3.45pm. At 4.55pm, the traffic police’s official handle tweeted saying that the traffic movement on National Highway-48 has returned to normalcy.