Commuters on the Gurgaon Expressway were caught in a four-hour-long traffic jam on Monday. Worst-affected were office-goers on way from Delhi to Gurgaon.
In its bid to make the Shankar Chowk crossing signal-free, Gurgaon police switched off three traffic lights under the Chowk flyover and diverted traffic by means of detours passing through DLF Cybercity and Udyog Vihar.
The seemingly-unending jam threw traffic out of gear between 7.30 and 11.30 am.
Alok Mittal, joint commissioner of police, Gurgaon, said the change in the traffic plan at Shankar Chowk resulted in the jam.
“It was the very first day of the trial. We plan to make this 100-meter-stretch under the Shankar Chowk flyover signal free,” Mittal said.
Navin Arora, en route to his office in DLF Cybercity said, “I was stuck in the jam for about an hour and a half. It was pandemonium out there; commuters appeared to be heading nowhere. The traffic police looked clueless about handling the mess.”
Mittal said the jams occurred as traffic coming from Delhi side via the service road and going straight was diverted left towards DLF Cybercity and onward for a u-turn, for getting back on to the expressway.
“Since some stretch on the left side was narrow, traffic moved slowly and resulted in the jam. A similar situation prevailed on Udyog Vihar side,” Mittal said.
{{/usCountry}}“Since some stretch on the left side was narrow, traffic moved slowly and resulted in the jam. A similar situation prevailed on Udyog Vihar side,” Mittal said.
{{/usCountry}}According to a study, on weekdays, about 1.25 lakh vehicles converge from all directions at Shankar Chowk -- one of the busiest crossings on the 27.7-km-long Gurgaon Expressway on NH-8.
According to estimates, about 1.80 lakh vehicles pass through the Delhi border toll plaza daily.