Gurgaon: 15-day signal-free trial run to decongest Subhash Chowk

Gurgaon police said a similar signal-free run to decongest Huda City Centre Metro station had proved to be a success

In a 15-day trial run to decongest the Subhash Chowk, the Gurgaon traffic police along with Road safety officers (RSO) have enabled a signal free ride to commuters from Sohna Road towards Rajiv Chowk. The diversion is mainly for the commuters who used to turn right towards Huda Metro station and Hero Honda Chowk.

Officials hope the signal-free run will end congestion at Subhash Chowk. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

Although the traffic flow at the junction was fairly smooth on Monday, commuters found it difficult taking the U-turn ahead of the flyover towards Hero Honda Chowk. The heavy vehicles taking the U-turn from the crossing is resulting in congestion on the stretch.

The traffic officials have also decided to use the first U-turn for the light vehicles and the next for the heavy vehicles. “This plan will be acted upon if the U- turn sees traffic congestion for a longer period. Presently, the movement is slow but the junction is congestion-free,” Raj Kumar Yadav, an RSO, said.

The crossing is one of the busiest in the city, with traffic converging from Sohna, Golf Course Extension Road, nectors 69-71 and Kherki Daula. During the trial run, however, commuters will enjoy a signal-free drive at these points.

The junction leads to key roads and landmarks such as Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Huda City Centre Metro station, Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, Golf Course Extension Road and Bakhtawar Chowk. Due to the heavy traffic volume at the spot, the junction is always congested.

In another move, traffic from Sohna Road to Rajiv Chowk and vice versa will now be enabled to move freely, as they will drive straight.

The diversion will only affect commuters who used to take right towards Huda Metro Station or Bakhtawar Chowk. Now they can no longer take a right turn from the junction as it is blocked.

Instead, they have to take left turn and move ahead before taking the U-turn after the flyover.

Similarly, vehicles going from Rajiv Chowk towards Hero Honda Chowk will have to take left and take a U-turn to get on the flyover.

Soumya Aggarwal, a resident of Sector 47, said, “People going straight are not facing any trouble, but those coming from Bakhtawar Chowk and taking U turn ahead of the flyover have to wait for five minutes, as traffic moves slowly.”

Read I Gurgaon: Encroachments between Subhash Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk cleared

DCP (traffic) Simardeep Singh said, “We planned this trial run after the success of the one at Huda city centre Metro station. The restoration of normal traffic flow has decongested the Huda City Centre Metro station and we are hoping the trial run will have a similar impact at Subhash Chowk. If the trial run results in easing the congestion, we will make the arrangement permanent. Else, else we will go back to the earlier plan if the diversion does not turn out to be fruitful.”

Crossing the Subhash Chowk junction often takes more than 20 minutes. To address this, the traffic police has been experimenting with engineering changes to decongest the spot.

“The intersection draws heavy traffic movement throughout the day and it results in congestion. To ease traffic flow at this point, we have drawn up a plan and started trial runs by introducing diversions in and around the junction. We hope the trial runs will yield positive results and bring some relief to commuters at the junction,” Dharamvir Verma, road safety officer (RSO), said.

After the success of the trial run, the Gurgaon traffic police made the diversion permanent at the Huda City Centre Metro station on July 12. The police had blocked a direct route between sectors 43 and 29 and Iffco Chowk and Signature Tower.