Seventeen days Genpact Chowk underpass shut down owing to traffic congestion, it opened again yesterday morning for a trial after several engineering changes.
Residents commuting on the stretch said the underpass was significantly less congested even during peak morning and evening hours — and that movement was swift.
Two turns were closed — one opposite the entrance of the DLF Golf Club and one ahead of the sector 53-54 Metro Station — and a turn on the surface above the underpass leading commuters from DLF Phase I towards One Horizon Center was opened to streamline traffic movement on Golf Course Road.
Another turn on the surface above the underpass, opposite IBIS hotel — allowing commuters to head towards Palm Springs and Park Place — is also in the pipeline. However, officials have not given a timeline for its completion.
The 700-m underpass will allow commuters coming from DLF Phase I and AIT Chowk to avoid congestion at Genpact Chowk, where traffic from St Thomas Marg, Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, AIT Chowk and Sikanderpur converges to create a major bottleneck. It will also let commuters avoid congestion at the Sector 53-54 metro station.
The underpass was opened on a trial basis on March 10. But instead of decongesting the junction, it severely affected traffic movement on both sides of Golf Course Road and its extension.
Three U-turns, one located opposite Magnolias, another ahead of the sector 53-54 metro station and one opposite Parsvnath Exotica, had been closed by the authorities by placing jersey barriers around the same time when the underpass had been opened.
The commuters, therefore, had to travel for more than 5 km to the AIT junction to take a U-turn, which could not handle such a large volume of vehicles.
Soon after, the underpass was closed temporarily on March 13.
“Traffic movement on the stretch is being closely monitored, and if needed, further engineering changes will be initiated,” ACP (traffic) Sandeep Mallik said.
