Long snarls continue to blight Delhi commuters

Navigation tools such as Google Maps showed deep red lines across multiple stretches, particularly during the evening peak hours

Most commuters travelling to, from or towards south and south-west Delhi on Wednesday suffered the combined impact of two major choke points as blockages at the Chirag Delhi intersection and NH-48 continued to spill on to arterial roads across the Capital, with key stretches and junctions several kilometres away feeling the effects of the additional vehicular burden.

HT Image

Tuesday morning’s closure of a section of NH-48 (the Delhi-Jaipur highway) near the airport fed the chaos emanating from the earlier shutdown of one carriageway of the Chirag Delhi flyover, around 15km away, with the overlapping snarls and tailbacks crippling down traffic for a second straight day on Wednesday.

Navigation tools such as Google Maps showed deep red lines across multiple stretches, particularly during the evening peak hours.

Traffic mitigation measures at both these spots were only marginally effective, with experts arguing that elaborate diversions, alternative route plans and additional police personnel would do little to mitigate the poorly coordinated infrastructure work that has led to a double whammy for commuters.

Beyond the two choke points themselves, snarls were reported at the intersection of Outer Ring Road and Aurobindo Marg, the AIIMS intersection, RK Puram, Munirka, near Dhaula Kuan, Vasant Kunj, as well as on the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road.

The worst hit were commuters travelling between from Nehru Place, CR Park, GK-2 or Kalkaji towards Gurugram, with the two hot spots on their trip keeping them stuck on the road for an hour or more than they usually would have.

On Wednesday, a day after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) shut an 800m section of the Rangpuri-Rajokri stretch of the Delhi-Jaipur highway for 90 days, commuters headed towards Gurugram and Dwarka said their plans were thrown out of gear. The Nehru Place-IIT Delhi leg of the Chirag Delhi flyover was on Sunday shut by the Delhi public works department (PWD) for 25 days to allow repair work on the key stretch. The opposite stretch will be shut for another 25 days after the first reopens.

District officials and police officers in Delhi and Gurugram said several working professionals in both cities opted for alternative routes to head to their offices, and that many even chose to work from home.

For those who ventured out, the snarls stretched far beyond the choke points.

Divya Kathuria, a resident of Defence Colony, who commutes to Udyog Vihar every day said the traffic mitigation measures had done little to ease the situation. “It still took more than 30 minutes to cross the stretch between Mahipalpur and Sirhaul border,” she said.

She did, however, add that the return journey was far kinder, largely because the journey from Gurugram towards Defence Colony, through Outer Ring Road, is not impacted by the closure at Chirag Delhi.

Gurugram’s deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Virender Singh Sangwan said they issued an advisory on Wednesday afternoon to cut the traffic volume at the spot.

The advisory asked commuters to take Old Delhi Road-Dundahera Border-Kapashera Border Dwarka Link Road-Dwarka-West, North-West Delhi. “After we shared the advisory on social media, people took the Metro and avoided cabs resulting in less vehicles on the stretches connecting to Delhi,” he said.

Many commuters who took these routes got little respite.

Sunita Joshi, a resident of DLF Phase 1, said it took her an hour and 45 minutes from Vasant Vihar to Gurugram, through Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, on Wednesday morning, because “all traffic from the expressway was diverted to this route”.

“I thought I would use MG Road for a smooth drive, but it was a terrible experience. The police reached the spot after commuters started calling the control room near Chhatarpur,” she said.

A similar picture played out on Wednesday at, and around, the Chirag Delhi intersection, where Outer Ring Road and Josip Broz Tito Marg meet.

A spot check by HT on Wednesday showed the tailback from the Chirag Delhi intersection stretching beyond the Savitri Flyover, around 400m away, even as traffic police tried to relieve some of the pressure there by deploying more personnel and manually controlling the stoppage time at the signal.

Rahul Kumar, a delivery executive working for an online food delivery platform, said it took him almost 40 minutes to go from Govindpuri to Chirag Delhi, a trip that normally takes less than 10 minutes.

“I picked up my last order in Govindpuri at 10.40 am and it is 11.22am., I am still stuck in this mess. I am heading towards Malviya Nagar and the customers will not be very happy about delays,” Kumar said.

Chandra Shekhar, a trader who was moving from Badarpur towards Chirag Delhi said he faced a 15-minute delay due to the traffic mess at the intersection.

A Delhi traffic police official said the traffic signal below the intersection was being operated manually, based on inputs on the length of the queues. “We are trying to prevent a queue length beyond Savitri, but other stretches have to be taken care of as well,” the official added.

Lights turned green along this stretch for 90 seconds, up from 30 seconds, at its peak on Wednesday.

However, the pain continued for residents of GK-2, CR Park and Kalkaji, for whom the affected carriageway is the only exit from their homes.

Sanjay Rana, general secretary of the GK-2 residents’ welfare association said little had changed since Sunday. “While returning from Moolchand towards GK-2 in the evening, I was stuck in traffic for 45 minutes. Maybe the attempt to clear Outer Ring Road is leading to build-up along Josip Broz Tito Marg. Residents continue to suffer,” he added.

Experts called for better coordination between agencies before such extensive closures.

Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning in the School of Planning and Architecture, said Outer Ring Road corridor is a key stretch that links south Delhi with central Delhi and the airport.

“The entire load of the carriageway has shifted on the surface level while the slip roads are not wide enough,” he said.