Gurgaon: U-turn near newly opened underpass turns accident spot

According to traffic police officials, as many as nine accidents (more than two accidents per day) have been reported at the U-turn near the underpass since the opening of the underpass on Sunday. However, no fatalities or major injuries have been reported so far.

A U-turn located 50 metres ahead of the recently launched 1.2 km underpass between DLF Phase 1 and Global Foyer Mall has become an accident spot.

Vehicles take the U-turn near the underpass at DLF-1 Rapid Metro station in Gurgaon on Thursday.(Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

Those taking the underpass from Cyber City towards Golf Course Road run into heavy traffic from DLF Phase 1 and DLF Phase 4 at the U-turn near DLF Phase 1 metro station. The converging traffic leads to a chaotic traffic situation and accidents.

For many residents, the inception of the new underpass was seen as a way out of the convergence of traffic from multiple points. However, vehicles coming from DLF Phase 1 often veers on the wrong lane, so that they could take a U-turn to head towards Sikanderpur or Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) Road.

Similarly, those heading from DLF Phase 4, Vyapar Kendra and sector 27 take a U-turn near the underpass to head towards DLF Phase 1, Gurgaon-Faridabad Road or towards DLF Phase 5.

Owing to the presence of large number of private schools in DLF Phase 1 and DLF Phase 4, the situation worsens when the schools’ open or give over as even school buses violate traffic norms to take the underpass.

According to traffic police officials, as many as nine accidents (more than two accidents per day) have been reported at the spot since the opening of the underpass on Sunday. However, no fatalities or major injuries have been reported so far.

Read I South Gurgaon residents delighted with the opening of new underpass

“Parts of the underpass is not well lit and once you come out of the dark, it takes seconds for your eyes to adjust to the sunlight. Hence, for a brief spell, if is often difficult to spot other vehicles near the U-turn. Since I have to take the underpass on a regular basis, I now exercise more caution and approach it at slow speed. However, anyone not familiar with the traffic situation here could meet with an accident,” Manoj Kakkar, a resident of Sector 55, said.

On a visit to the spot on Wednesday night, HT was witness to one such mishap as a motorcycle heading from the underpass collided with an auto-rickshaw that was attempting to head towards MG Road.

“The objective of opening the underpass was to ease bottlenecks. However, it only seems we have lurched from one problem to another. Instead of converging near the Sikanderpur crossing, the entire volume of traffic has shifted to the U-turn near the DLF Phase 1 metro station,” Abhishek Dayal, a resident of Nirvana Country, said.

Police officers said they will take up the matter with the HUDA and DLF, which have undertaken the Golf Course Road Expansion project, at the next road safety meet.

“There is a road safety meet scheduled in the coming weeks where real estate developers and civic body officials will also be present. The matter will be brought to their notice,” a spokesperson of Gurgaon police said.