Gurugram’s Shankar Chowk to remain pedestrian friendly till Tuesday

“Despite heavy rains in the afternoon, the experiment did not lead to any congestion or traffic snarls at the Chowk, which was one of the concerns raised,” said Sarika Panda Bhatt, founder of the Raahgiri Foundation.

An experiment by transport and road safety experts to make Shankar Chowk more pedestrian-friendly will continue for at least two more days, on July 22 and July 23, after a trial run over the weekend delivered desirable results. An ‘end-to-end pedestrian pass’, created using bollards and jersey barriers, allowed commuters travelling on foot to safely cross the crowded intersection, which has a reputation for being unsafe with multiple deaths of vulnerable pedestrians being reported from the spot over the past two years.

After a trial to make Shankar Chowk pedestrian friendly delivered desirable results over the weekend, the set up will continue for two more days. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“Despite heavy rains in the afternoon, the experiment did not lead to any congestion or traffic snarls at the Chowk, which was one of the concerns raised,” said Sarika Panda Bhatt, founder of the Raahgiri Foundation. A spot visit by a Hindustan Times team on Sunday afternoon also found a high number of pedestrians using the end-to-end pass, facilitated by a team of watchful traffic policemen. A traffic constable manning the Chowk on Sunday, requesting anonymity, said, “I don’t see any problems with the redesign. We have been managing the flow of traffic as per instructions, which were to efficiently time release and halt the flow of vehicles. The real test of this system will be on Monday when the volume of traffic will increase.” 

The redesign involves using bollards to demarcate a section of the road at the junction as a pedestrian pass between DLF and Udyog Vihar.

The crossing is one of city’s most accident-prone spots due to the high pedestrians and signal-free vehicular traffic movement.

Twelve pedestrian fatalities were recorded at Shankar Chowk between 2016 and 2018, the second highest in the city, according to traffic police data. Last year, there were six fatalities reported at the intersection.

DCP traffic Himanshu Garg did not respond to requests for comment.