Trial to decongest Ggm’s Sirhaul plaza next month
GURUGRAM: To decongest the Sirhaul toll plaza on the Delhigurgaon Expressway, the width of each carriageway may be reduced on a trial basis next month to prevent converging traffic, which, police say, is the main reason for congestion and accidents at the spot.
Congestion has been a constant problem at Sirhaul toll plaza on the Delhi-gurugram border, since work for the widening of the Delhi-gurgaon Expressway began in 2004. However, the problem has worsened in the last six months, said police, due to the ongoing construction of the urban extension road, the Dwarka exit, and due to drainage work near Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport -- all located near the Delhi-gurgaon Expressway. These projects often result in a backlog of traffic, stretching all the way to the Sirhaul toll plaza, police said.
Commuters often take about 10-15 minutes to cross the Sirhaul toll plaza, even during nonpeak traffic hours on weekends, while during peak traffic hours on weekdays it takes them a minimum of 20 minutes, regular users of the road said.
“Crossing the Sirhaul toll
plaza is a major issue every day. Each time, it takes me at least 20 minutes to cross the stretch,” said Sahil Mishra, a resident of RK Puram in Delhi.
According to the 2019 comprehensive mobility plan of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, around 300,000 vehicles cross the toll plaza every day.
“The Sirhaul toll plaza is the most congested stretch in Gurugram. We are in the final stages of a traffic trial at Rajiv Chowk and are in the process of making permanent changes there. Once this is complete we will take up the Sirhaul toll plaza traffic trial on priority and finalise a traffic plan, which we are aiming to implement in May,” said Ravinder
Singh Tomar, DCP, Gurugram traffic police, adding the traffic police will jointly carry out the trial at Sirhaul toll plaza with Trax, a road safety NGO.
According to the traffic police, the width of the Delhi-gurgaon Expressway (on both the carriageways) varies between 12 and 16 lanes, which increases to 32 lanes at the Sirhaul toll plaza. To streamline vehicular movement, the existing width of eight lanes on each carriageway heading towards Rajokri and Iffco Chowk respectively will be reduced to four lanes to ensure it is aligned with the rest of the expressway.
The eight left-most lanes on each carriageway, which are used by commuters to cross the
MCD toll and the Haryana toll tax booth to head towards Rajokri and Ambience Mall respectively, will largely remain unaffected. However, commuters driving on these lanes can no longer veer towards the rightmost lanes to head towards Mahipalpur or Iffco Chowk as jersey barriers will prevent them from doing so. Signs will be erected around 100 metres before the Shankar Chowk flyover and just a few metres after the Rajokri flyover cautioning commuters to use the eight leftmost lanes to head towards Rajokri and Ambience Mall respectively. Those driving on the remaining four lanes can continue to head towards Iffco Chowk and Mahipalpur respectively.
Experts said that proper signage will play an important role in the trial. Sewa Ram of School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, said, “Stretches with large widths tend to encourage lanechanging behaviour, which causes accidents and congestion. Thus, reducing lane widths at key crossings is needed. The success of the trial, however, will be decided by the proper implementation of signages. It is important there is clarity among commuters about the diversion, otherwise the changes will have an opposite effect.”