Traffic woes rise across Delhi: Cops list 117 choke points, 10 congested flyways

A survey by the Delhi traffic police has finally confirmed what commuters have been complaining about over the past few months – a significant increase in traffic congestion across the national capital. The reasons, according to the survey, are myriad -- from construction to encroachment, and illegal parking to a rise in motor vehicles post the pandemic.

Conducted between January and September this year, the survey has identified at least 117 road stretches and 10 flyovers as the key traffic congestion points in Delhi. The survey states that southern and northern part of the city top the list with 25 and 27 key traffic points respectively.

According to the survey, heavier volume of traffic on the roads, ongoing construction activities such as building of flyovers; widening, repair and re-carpeting of roads; encroachment; improper parking of vehicles; and unregulated pedestrian movement are the main reasons for congestion.

The 25 traffic points identified in southern part of Delhi include areas such as Yusuf Sarai market in front of Safdarjung hospital, Rangpuri roundabout under NH-48 flyover, Andheria Mor and CDR Chowk on Mehrauli-Gurugram (MG) Road, the roads under Chirag Delhi flyover, Savitri flyover-Outer Ring Road, Tara Apartment-Alaknanda Road, Mathura Road-Madanpur Khadar, Crowne Plaza-Maa Anandmayee Marg near Okhla, and both stretches of Shaheed Bijender Singh Gurjar Marg near Jaitpur.

“The construction activities near Sarai Kale Khan, Saket metro, Khanpur t-point, Hamdard t-point and from Pul Prahladpur traffic signal to Lal Kuan traffic signal on the Mehrauli-Badarpur (MB) Road were identified as the reasons behind the traffic snarls on the 22 identified congestion points in south Delhi,” the traffic police report read.

As per the survey report, northern parts of the city that include areas in Rohini, northwest and outer-north have 27 traffic congestion points -- Netaji Subhash Marg (Delhi Gate to Nukkad Faiz Bazar), outside New Delhi railway station in Paharganj and Ajmeri Gate side, Rani Jhansi Road, Anand Parbat, Majnu ka Tila, in front of Tis Hazari court, and outside Red Fort on NS Marg, among others.

In eastern and central Delhi, 20 and 21 traffic congestion points were identified, respectively. In east Delhi, road no-62 at Seemapuri roundabout, Nirman Vihar and Laxmi Nagar on the Vikas Marg, ISBT Anand Vihar Road are among the points identified.

The New Delhi areas, however, only have five traffic congestion points – Sardar Patel Marg, Teen Murti Marg upto GKP in Chanakyapuri, Purana Quila road near India Gate, Tughlaq road roundabout, and Bhinder Point.

In western Delhi, which has 19 traffic congestion points, construction activities between Punjabi Bagh and Raja Garden flyover are the reason behind the traffic snarls.

The other problematic stretches are Janakpuri district centre to Uttam Nagar chowk, Najafgarh road, Uttam Nagar terminal to Nawada metro station, road no-201 in Dwarka sector-1 (Rudra cut to Palam flyover) and Mayapuri Chowk to Kirti Nagar metro station.

As far as traffic congestion on Delhi’s flyovers are concerned, the 10 most congested flyover identified in the survey are Banda Bahadur (Barapullah) Bairangi Marg flyover, Sarita Vihar flyover, Geeta Colony flyover, Azadpur Chowk flyover, Punjabi Bagh flyover, Mukarba Chowk flyover, Hanuman Setu, Rani Jhansi flyover, Palam/Dwarka flyover, and Peeragarhi flyover.

The ongoing construction of an extra lane has been identified as the reason behind traffic snarls on the Punjabi Bagh flyover while construction activities by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is the cause for traffic congestion on the Peeragarhi flyover, said a traffic police officer, quoting the survey report.

“Heavy volume of traffic, encroachment on roadside, and pedestrian movement are the reasons for congestion on Azadpur Chowk and Mukarba Chowk flyovers in northern Delhi,” added the officer.

The multiple choke points, which lead to traffic snarls, are responsible for increased travel time of commuters. Many commuters lamented that lack of sufficient traffic personnel.

“I drive from my house in Indirapurm to my office in Connaught Place via India Gate every day. The usual travel time is 45 minutes but the day I leave from office anytime between 5.30 pm and 6 pm, my travel time doubles. I get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Purana Quila road and the Pragati Maidan tunnel that is mostly choked in the evening and morning. I have hardly seen any traffic police personnel present on the stretch,” said Ujjawal Tripathi, an employee of a finance company.

Special commissioner of police (traffic) Surendra Singh Yadav said that the survey was conducted to identify the traffic congestion points and understand the factors that can play a significant role in improving traffic flow and ensuring the safety of road users.

“The Delhi traffic police have been taking various efforts to mitigate the traffic congestion in the city, especially at the spots that have been identified as key congestion points. The steps include regulation of traffic by regular deployment of traffic personnel, not allowing the entry of goods vehicles into Delhi that have to go to other states, regular auditing and reviewing of traffic signal timings, removal of encroachment and improperly parked vehicles, and introduction of one-way traffic, apart from enforcement action against violators,” said Yadav.

The special CP added that road engineering interventions by sending proposals to road owning and maintaining agencies and road safety education are other areas that the traffic police are focusing on. Modernisation efforts such as installation of variable message signboards (VMS) to display important traffic related information, and installation of red-light violation detection cameras at 43 junctions in the city are also being made to discipline traffic on the city roads, he added.

According to Delhi’s economic survey, the Capital had 7.92 million registered vehicles in 2021-22. To be sure, this does not include 4.88 million deregistered “end of life” vehicles that continue to ply on the roads, which takes the total to 12.80 million. The corresponding number in 2020-21 was 12.25 million, and stood at 11.89 million just before the pandemic 2019-20.

PK Sarkar, the former head of transport planning at the School of Planning Architecture, batted for a sustainable public transport network to decrease congestion on the road. “It’s better that the focus should be given on spreading sustainable public transport across the city and to an extent that people don’t have to walk more than 500 metres to get a bus or metro train,” said Sarkar.