The Delhi Traffic Police has identified 14 spots in the city that face severe traffic congestion during the peak hours, as well as at non-peak hours.
“We had decided to identify ten road stretches where the traffic congestion problem is the most severe and take appropriate action to make the traffic flow smooth. But once we started the exercise of identifying those locations, the list kept expanding and we have 14 spots identified so far,” said Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Dr Muktesh Chander.
The 14 spots that have been identified to unclog the Delhi roads include Saket Metro Station, IIT Flyover, Ashram Chowk, ISBT Kashmere Gate, Khanpur T-point, Uttam Nagar Chowk, Peera Garhi Chowk, GT Road (Shastri Park), Akshardham, R&R Hospital (Dhaula Kuan), Rao Tula Ram Marg (from T-point on Ring Road to Outer Ring Road), Moti Bagh crossing and outside Mayur Vihar Metro Station.
The stretch on Patparganj Road outside the Mayur Vihar Phase I Metro Station is the latest addition to the list of the most congested traffic points. According to traffic officials, lack of integration of multi-modal transport is one of the major causes. There are no parking and halting points for rickshaws, autos and gramin sewa vehicles, which are usually haphazardly parked outside the metro station slowing down the traffic and often bringing it to a grinding halt, especially in the side lanes.
There’s no demarcated pickup and drop off points for private vehicles either. So vehicles dropping off passengers at the metro station have to stop at the main road in order to disembark passengers, thereby reducing the road space for other vehicles and slowing down the traffic, it has been suggested.
Similar problem is faced across Delhi at converging points of more than one modes of transport. Saket Metro Station, Hauz Khas Metro station, Malviya Nagar Metro station, Green Park, ISBT Kashmere Gate etc are glaring examples of lack of multi-modal transport integration, according to sources.
Specific to Mayur Vihar station, there’s further problem of six to seven lanes of Noida link Road converging and being reduced to two lanes on slip road and further reducing to single lane at the entry on Khudi Ram Bose Marg, thereby leading to major congestion.
Acknowledging the problem, the Delhi Traffic Police has taken some short term measures like relocating the auto rickshaws and gramin sewa stand to the service lane of Noida link Road. Single lane halting area for rickshaws has also been demarcated with a metal grill installed, said traffic police official.
The official further added that traffic personnel are being deployed permanently at this point during the peak hours to guide the traffic and no vehicle will be allowed to halt or park in front of the metro station.
Special CP Muktesh Chander has also written to Delhi Metro Chief Mangu Singh to help in better integration of Metro with other modes of transport. He has also written to the PWD to carry out the widening of the road to bring about a permanent solution to the problem, he said.
“The idea is to identify the most congested spots, use all the resources to solve the problem in those spots and then continue the exercise by finding the other such stretches. That’s the only way to improve the traffic situation here now: by focusing on a few spots at a time,” Chander added.