Monday, 6 August 2018

G’gaon: Closing of U-turn at GCR causes chaos; experts prompt ways to recover it


The closing of U-turn on Golf Course Road caused a six-hour long traffic jam on Friday. The experts were of the view that there is a fault in the design of the road and it is causing repeated incidents of the traffic jam. Gurgaon News

However, the traffic police informed that they are thinking about opening a few cuts to let the commuters take U-turn.

A four-way intersection, AIT chowk, has always been a problem with the commuters as there is always heavy traffic at the spot. The chowk was completely choked between 8 am and 2 pm on Friday due to the closure of U-turn near Vipul Belmonte.

The U-turn was closed on the requests of the nearby residents. The commuters had no option but to travel to AIT chowk to take a U-turn. It caused a lot of traffic chaos.

Sewa Ram, an urban transport systems design expert and faculty member at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), said that the main problem behind the congestion at the GCR is the concept of the 16-lane road.

“The concept of the 8.3 km signal-free stretch between Shankar Chowk and Ghata t-point is absurd and one of the main reasons why the AIT Chowk is plagued with congestion,” Ram said.

“The junction is not equipped to handle 5,000-7,000 vehicles from each direction per hour. Instead, its design only allows for entry of 2,000 vehicles from each direction per hour. There is a simple solution to the problem which requires the construction of a traffic signal,” Ram added.

Ram suggested the introduction of a traffic signal as it will facilitate the traffic movement in one direction. He said that it will streamline the traffic distribution.

The program coordinator of Haryana Vision Zero, Sarika Panda Bhatt, said that the roundabout should be replaced with a signalised intersection.

Hitesh Yadav, ACP, traffic, said that they are mulling over various ways to decongest the GCR and it includes the opening of U-turns at several places.