Gurgaon: Engineering changes at Signature Towers junction puzzle commuters

Commuters proceeding from Maharana Pratap Chowk towards Huda City Centre are clueless on which way to go

Commuters coming from Maharana Pratap Chowk and heading towards Huda Gymkhana Club or Crowne Plaza hotel are clueless on which is the right passage owing to several engineering changes that have taken place at the Signature Towers junction over the last six months.

A newly inaugurated underpass enabling commuters to travel directly towards Huda City Centre (HCC), bypassing Huda Gymkhana Club or Crowne Plaza was opened on Monday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

A newly inaugurated underpass enabling commuters to travel directly towards Huda City Centre (HCC), bypassing Huda Gymkhana Club or Crowne Plaza, was opened on Monday and commuters claim it is adding to the prevailing confusion.

The Signature Towers bi-directional underpass was opened to reduce congestion at the junction and let commuters head directly towards Atul Kataria Chowk and vice versa towards Huda City Centre.

At present, to reach Crowne Plaza or Huda Gymkhana Club, commuters have to take the new underpass and take a left turn towards Appu Ghar. Many commuters aren’t aware of this.

“I am still coming to terms with the bi-directional underpass and the direction it leads to and it was only at the third attempt that I was able to figure out the route leading to Crowne Plaza. I hope the authorities put better signage to help commuters,” Arshdeep Singh, a resident of Sector 28, said.

While commuters travelling from the Huda City Centre towards Atul Kataria Chowk or Jaipur weren’t severely affected by the engineering changes, traffic on the other side has had to constantly cope with the these changes.

Earlier, the turn towards Jaipur had been closed for the construction of the underpass and so was the straight road towards the Huda City Centre.

Commuters had to take the service lane of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and make a U-turn below the Iffco Chowk flyover to reach their destinations.

Later, commuters were given access to the straight leading to Huda City Centre through a zig-zag route below the Signature Towers flyover. However, it was subsequently closed with jersey barriers after the opening of the underpass.

Read I Gurgaon: Huda City Centre to Signature Tower stretch turns choke-point

Many are still accustomed to the right of way and end up running into traffic coming from the Huda City Centre towards Atul Kataria Chowk.

“I almost collided with vehicles coming from the Huda City Centre. Unaware of the engineering changes, I opted for the regular route,” Saurabh Kukreja, an employee of a private company at Signature Towers, said.

An official of National Highways Authority of India, who is involved in construction of underpasses, said that a safety audit of the underpasses at Signature Tower and Rajiv Chowk is already under way and the required changes will be made.

Ashok Sharma, project director of NHAI did not respond to the texts and phone calls from HT.