Trial run: Drive through bus lane in BRT for five days

Drive freely in the bus lane for the next five days as Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) allows mixed traffic in bus lane as part of its trial run along Delhi’s only Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor.

Drive freely in the bus lane for the next five days as Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) allows mixed traffic in bus lane as part of its trial run along Delhi’s only Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor.

HT Image

The research agency has been studying the traffic and signalling pattern on orders of the High Court on the 5.8-km stretch from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand Hospital in south Delhi. Delhi government’s ambitious road project, constructed on the lines of high-speed bus corridors in several Latin American countries, has been under the scrutiny for its revolutionary design ever since it was opened for trial run four years ago.

The High Court had asked the research agency to conduct traffic viability on this stretch, following complaints of traffic mess on this road. The agency is comparing the traffic movement on the BRT corridor with Khel Gaon Marg, a parallel road, in south Delhi.

According to officials, the CRRI will turn the BRT corridor like any other road in Delhi from May 12 to May 17 as its plan to understand the traffic movement. Interestingly, the bus lane in this corridor has been working as a normal lane with all kind of traffic moving freely since February this year ever since the transport department stopped penalising motorists following a court directive.

Delhi government had initially planned to convert the 14.5-km stretch from Delhi Gate to Ambedkar Nagar into a BRT corridor but later abandoned the project midway when motorists started complaining of constructing the bus lane along the central verge of the road.