Gurgaon: New route to unclog Iffco Chowk jams MG Road

Three days ago,the traffic police removed a section of dividers on the MG Road, 500 metres ahead of Iffco Chowk.

The traffic police’s attempt to unclog Iffco Chowk by creating a new right turn on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) Road for vehicles from the metro station road has backfired and added to commuters’ woes.

Vehicles jammed at the spot on MG Road where the traffic police created a right turn. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Three days ago,the traffic police removed a section of dividers on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) Road, 500 metres ahead of Iffco Chowk, to provide an alternative shorter route for traffic from Iffco Chowk metro station towards New Delhi on MG Road.

The idea was that commuters can directly take a right turn towards New Delhi on the MG Road instead of taking a left turn towards Iffco Chowk followed by a U-turn at the intersection for heading towards the national capital.

However, the newly ‘opened space’ has created a bottleneck on the MG Road, and even causing accidents.

Siddhant Chawla of Heritage City said the travel time from the expressway to his residence remains the same.

“Instead of traffic being jammed at Iffco Chowk, there are snarls on the MG Road at the new right turn spot. The move by traffic police is pointless. It still takes me 10 to 15 minutes to reach home from Iffco Chowk,” Siddhant said.

With a new option available, those travelling from New Delhi on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway are opting to take the service lanes to enter MG Road and then take a right turn using the newly created space to head towards Iffco Chowk metro station.

Earlier, commuters used to either opt for exit 7 at Signature Towers on the expressway to head towards Iffco Chowk Metro station and nearby areas or take a U-turn before the MG Road Metro station.

Several accidents have been reported at the spot as commuters coming towards Iffco Chowk on MG Road are colliding with traffic from Iffco Chowk Metro station road.

When HT visited the spot, a taxi coming from Iffco Chowk metro station, trying to use the right turn, and a motorcycle heading towards Iffco Chowk on MG Road collided.

Police said there is no immediate solution to the chaos.

“The space was created to unclog traffic at Iffco Chowk and it has been successful from that perspective. Soon, we will deploy traffic personnel at the spot (the new right turn) or set up a traffic light there to solve the traffic crisis,” a police spokesperson said.