This stretch is notorious for being a bottleneck 24x7
Situated close to Civil Lines, where residences of the Chief Minister, Lieutenant Governor and Delhi Cabinet ministers are located, Kashmere Gate has heavy traffic congestion daily. This stretch is notorious for being a traffic bottleneck 24x7.
Lala Hardev Marg is the main road in front of Kashmere Gate metro station and the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) where the flyover coming from East Delhi areas, such as Shahdara and Dilshad Garden, merges. Netaji Subhash Marg connecting Kashmere Gate to Chandni Chowk and Daryaganj always choked due to encroachments and narrow lanes.
Another major congestion point on the stretch comes between ISBT Kashmere Gate and the Chandgi Ram Akhara junction. Nityanand Marg stretch connecting Tis Hazari court is another bottleneck here. Interestingly, as the number of vehicles on roads surrounding Kashmere Gate has increased multifold, the condition of roads and traffic management remains the same.
In 2018, Delhi traffic police had identified the area around Kashmere Gate as an ‘accident-prone’ zone due to heavy pedestrian movement and traffic congestion. The situation has worsened since 2018. The authorities seem to be clueless here. The area has illegal parking lots, which have an unregulated private vehicle flow, huge encroachments, that add chaos to the already heavy volume of traffic on the roads.
Rajni Kant Verma, former Transport Secretary of Delhi government, said that traffic congestion is the major problem at Kashmere Gate, due to heavy traffic and illegal parking of auto rickshaws and buses. “Besides, there are also encroachments surrounding the ISBT Kashmere Gate Metro station, leading to traffic jams here”, he said.
According to Verma, the problem will be solved if encroachment is removed and regulate the auto rickshaw and private vehicles.
According to transport department’s officials, the Delhi government has taken steps to reduce traffic congestion in the vicinity of the ISBTs by implementing new policies. Under it, parking and bus-bay usage fees for private and govt interstate buses will now be the same to discourage private buses from parking illegally on the roadside which congests traffic.
Furthermore, buses will be assigned a fixed parking time slot of 25 minutes at a predetermined rate. If a bus exceeds this allotted time, additional charges will be levied. To ensure compliance, buses without FasTags will not be permitted to enter the terminal. Delhi has three ISBTs - at Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan.
Raj Niwas officials said that traffic congestion outside the ISBTs is visibly lower now, and a report from the traffic police has also been sought to ascertain the impact of reduced turnaround timings on traffic and pedestrian movement outside the ISBTs.
At ISBT Kashmere Gate, the average turnaround time has dropped from 45 minutes in August to 29 minutes after the new order, averaging 19 minutes since then. The number of buses to and from the terminal was 1,373 per day on average in August and is now 1,644 per day.
Notably, the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) has proposed several long-term modifications to the traffic diversion plan to decongest the area around Kashmere Gate Interstate Bus Terminus (ISBT). The CRRI has now suggested reducing the width of the footpath under Yudhistir Setu, which will create more space for buses.
Another key change is the closure of the Nigambodh Ghat U-turn.To increase the space for buses going towards Pataleshwar Mandir, CRRI has suggested reducing the width of a mostly unused footpath. The changes also include directing buses towards the Shastri Park DMRC depot on Grand Trunk Road so that the buses coming from Haryana and Punjab don’t wait on Ring Road to enter the ISBT and cause congestion.
Meanwhile, locals and those commuting to the area will soon have to deal with another traffic hurdle. Roshanara Road in north Delhi will remain closed for traffic and pedestrian movement for over a month due to the Delhi Metro’s twin tunnel construction.
The Delhi traffic police issued an advisory on Friday, stating that the road will remain closed to traffic/pedestrian movement from Friday midnight, till November 18. The twin tunnel construction work by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is going on Roshanara Road. The work is underway on both carriageways from roundabout Roshanara to Pul Bangash metro station.
Buses and heavy vehicles coming from ISBT and going towards Shakti Nagar via Roshanara Road will be diverted towards Shamnath Marg, Civil Lines, Mall Road till Khalsa College, towards Shakti Nagar Chowk and vice versa, the advisory stated.
Light motor vehicles will be diverted from Barfkhana Chowk, Lala Jagan Nath Marg up to Clock Tower, Chaudhary Nand Lal Marg, Dinanath Marg via Parshuram underpass and vice versa, it added. The police have requested the commuters to cooperate by avoiding these roads and if possible use public transport, especially metro services.
