Delhi-Gurgaon e-way planners failed to envisage urbanisation

Several unauthorised access points to the service lane leads to snarls, which spills over to the main carriageway on NH8.

The highway planners did not visualise the potential urbanisation in Gurgaon in the last decade and hence, the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway has remained controversial since its inception.

Several unauthorised access points to the service lane leads to snarls, which spills over to the main carriageway. (Abhinav Saha/HT Photo)

Wrong traffic projection, poor design that lead to insufficient number of underpasses and pedestrian bridges, and illegal colonies that mushroomed along the expressway ensured that this road could never deliver the promises.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) rules say the spacing of access to national highways should be at intervals of at least 100 metres and in the case of expressways, the spacing should be more. The NHAI rules also state that property owners should be grouped together and parallel service roads be constructed to give access at selected points. The measurements of the driveways should conform to the required standards needed for smooth traffic.

However, every rule that the highway authority has made is violated in the 10-kilometre stretch between Rajiv Chowk and Kherki Daula. A number of large auto parts firms and business parks on this stretch also make it one of the busiest stretches with multiple bottlenecks.

Highway administrator Ashok Sharma says that when this road was planned, there was barren land on both sides of the road and encroachments were negligible. “There were not many commercial establishments at that time. Also we can’t build a boundary wall on the highway and it‘s for civic agencies to keep encroachments in check,” he says. Despite complaints to the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, Haryana Urban Development Authority and the district administration, encroachments and unauthorised colonies on both sides of the road continue to multiply.

The acute deficiency of infrastructure in Gurgaon is also to be blamed for the problems on the expressway.