Fogged and stalled

Blinding fog, construction work across the city, over 50 lakh vehicles jostling for nonexistent road space in kilometres-long traffic jams and amid all this, the coldest day of the season — Delhi was certainly not the place to be in on Friday.

Blinding fog, construction work across the city, over 50 lakh vehicles jostling for nonexistent road space in kilometres-long traffic jams and amid all this, the coldest day of the season — Delhi was certainly not the place to be in on Friday.

HT Image

Bad news is, it’s going to stay just as bad this weekend.

The day also witnessed the season’s worst spell of fog — visibility reduced to 50 metres during the peak morning hours.

Traffic piled up at key arterial roads leading to Pragati Maidan, the venue of the Auto Expo, and Connaught Place, which is undergoing restoration work.

By afternoon, almost every arterial and radial road in central, east and south Delhi was clogged with traffic.

A truck overturned near Moolchand Hospital in South Delhi, causing a long jam stretching up to the Noida expressway. The usual 20-minute drive stretched to over an hour.

“There was a five kilometre jam on the (Noida) Flyway,” said Davender Yadav, chief general manager, Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited. “We had to announce at the toll plazas about the traffic snarl and that motorists could take a U-turn if they wished so.”