Ghaziabad Development Authority’s grandiose move for a signal-free crossing at Mohan Nagar collapsed on the very first day. Traffic Police on Monday started diverting vehicles in consonance with the GDA plan wherein commuters from Delhi via link Road to Ghaziabad, Meerut and Hapur would take a signal-free ride towards Air Force Station and from there, a free right turn via Karhera to Ghaziabad and onwards. However, the plan resulted in huge traffic snarls during first half of the day.
GDA vice-chairman VK Yadav, who commutes daily from Noida to his office, also got stuck in the jam for hours. “It is the failure of Traffic Police, which could not foresee the bottlenecks. I visited the site deliberately to study the shortcomings. I am sure they will streamline the process in two-three days,” Yadav said.
Motorists faced a harrowing time as they were caught in a gridlock near Air Force Station, Trade Tax T-point, Mohan Nagar and Vasundhara crossing. “We were diverted by police but the road was choked. There was total pell-mell since vehicles from loni, Delhi, Meerut, Hapur and Ghaziabad converged at a point of no return. Attempts to go towards the newly-opened Karhera bridge was again a hitch since commuters from Raj Nagar Extension already there looking for a way out,” said Anoop Dhama, who was travelling from Khekra to Ghaziabad.
In a major decision, GDA had decided to make the congested Mohan Nagar intersection in Ghaziabad signal-free from June 1. To ensure a smooth ride for commuters, the authority had proposed major diversion plans that would allow uninterrupted flow of traffic moving between Ghaziabad, Anand Vihar, Dilshad Garden, Wazirabad and loni areas.
Free left turns had been proposed for all major roads leading to the crossing and traffic wouldn’t be allowed to come to a halt at any point at the intersection that sees around 17,000 passenger car units (PCUs) during peak hours on any given day.