Ingredients of a good jam

The Ashram traffic confusion has got so well organised, even the police aren’t left with much hope, repors HT Correspondent.

Haphazard driving, violation of rules and poor policing have turned Ashram intersection into a traffic nightmare.

HT Image

The heterogeneous nature of traffic — a bitter mish mash of two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers — only adds to the problem.

And the stretch is turning out to be a big problem for the city's traffic police that has tried many tricks but none have succeeded. In a move to give more time to traffic moving along the Mathura Road, the traffic police recently closed straight movement of vehicles along the Ring Road at the intersection.

Senior traffic officers had claimed it would help in discharging more vehicles plying on Mathura Road. They now accept the move did not yield desired results.

Parking pangs

Illegal parking close to the crossing and haphazardly parked buses at the bus stops on Mathura Road and Maharani Bagh on Ring Road add to the chaos. “We have now requested the DTC to shift the Maharani Bagh bus stop towards the DND flyway,” said a senior traffic police officer requesting anonymity.

"In the current situation, the buses parked at Maharani Bagh bus bays obstruct the movement of vehicles turning left towards Badarpur from Ring Road. Once the bus bay is shifted, the situation will improve considerably."

Bus bays

About the bus bay near the petrol pump on Mathura Road, the officer said, the traffic police have now put temporary bollards near the bus stop leaving just enough space for a bus to reach the bay.

“Earlier, people waiting for buses used to occupy a lane and the buses would stop in the second lane, blocking other vehicles. Now, bus commuters wait for buses at the footpath only and there's more space for traffic to move,” the officer said.

Concerned with Ashram crossing turning into one big bottleneck, the traffic police recently got a study done on the number of vehicles passing through the intersection and the composition of traffic.

They have also analysed the mix of inter-city and local traffic at the intersection on ground and on the flyover on the Ring Road.

“Proper signage should be put at intersections and flyover so that motorists don't get confused and obstruct traffic,” said P.K.Sarkar, department of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture, when he accompanied the Hindustan Times team to Ashram crossing last month.