Gurgaon: Day after snarls, U-turns at Genpact Chowk reopened

Residents said the rush hour traffic on Monday will tell them whether the changes effected at Genpact Chowk will prove effective

Day after the traffic mess caused by the opening of the Genpact Chowk underpass on trial led to snarls for over four hours on the Golf Course Road, authorities reopened three U-turns to streamline traffic movement.

The installation of jersey barriers resulted in one side of the Golf Course Road, meant commuters travelling from Genpact Chowk towards AIT Chowk, becoming a bottleneck till 3pm. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

These turns, one located opposite the Magnolias, another ahead of the sector 53-54 metro station and one opposite Parsvnath Exotica, had been closed by the authorities by placing jersey barriers at 11am, around the same time when the underpass had opened for trial.

The installation of jersey barriers resulted in one side of the Golf Course Road, meant commuters travelling from Genpact Chowk towards AIT Chowk, becoming a bottleneck till 3pm. Commuters had to travel for more than five kilometers to make a U-turn and the AIT junction was found to be ill-equipped to handle such a large volume of vehicles, resulting in a severe traffic backlog.

“Officials were directed to remove the jersey barriers and reopen the three U-turns, as people had to travel a long distance to make a turn. It was resulting in one spot (AIT Chowk) becoming severely congested due to the large influx of traffic and hence, the changes have been made,” Hira Singh, ACP (traffic), said.

Despite the changes carried out by the traffic police, residents voiced concern over the chaotic traffic situation on Sunday.

“There is a relatively lower volume of traffic on the stretch on weekends. However, in spite of it being a Sunday, traffic moved at a snail’s pace. Hence, the rush hour on Monday will give us a fair idea on whether the changes executed by the traffic police today will be of any help to reducing snarls on Golf Course Road,” Mihir Kohli, a resident of DLF-5, said.

Read I Opening of Genpact Chowk on trial affects traffic on Golf Course Road

On Thursday, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) and the DLF Limited had signed an agreement on sharing the cost of the much-awaited underpass and it paved the way for its opening on trial.

With the completion of the 700 metre (approx) two-way Genpact Chowk underpass, all seven underpasses have opened on the 8.3 km signal-free stretch between sectors 55/56 to Shankar Chowk.

The underpass has been built to decongest the junction where traffic from DLF-5, St Thomas Marg and Gurgaon-Faridabad Road converges and also enable commuters avoid the congestion near the Sector 53-54 Metro station.