Soon, a safer IFFCO Chowk for Gurugram

Gurugram: The district road safety committee (DRSC) of Gurugram is likely to set up portable pedestrian signals, table top crossings, and pedestrian islands along Iffco Chowk by the end of September to facilitate a safer crossing for pedestrians, said officials on Saturday.

Government agencies such as the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), Public Works Department (PWD), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Gurugram district administration, Gurugram traffic police, and private road safety organisations come under the lookout of DRSC.

According to officials, DRSC has been constructing table top crossings — similar to speed breakers but much wider — at four points along the junction. It will set up four portable pedestrian signals in the next two weeks, allowing pedestrians 10-15 seconds to cross the junction during fast-moving traffic. Pedestrian signals — similar to conventional traffic signals — will be installed for pedestrians and cyclists, allowing them short intervals of 10-30 seconds to cross the junction. The refuge islands provide a safe waiting space — usually at an elevation of two to three feet higher than the carriageway — to pedestrians, at the middle or end of Iffco Chowk.

“Besides uplifting pedestrian amenities, dedicated pickup and drop points will also be set up for various modes of public transportation,” said Shivani Khurana, project associate of Gurugram Vision Zero (GVZ) — a road safety programme of the Gurugram district administration supported by private players.

GVZ, which is leading both the redesigning and traffic trial along Iffco Chowk, surveyed pedestrian amenities along the junction in April and finalised the latest implementation. According to the survey, FOBs along the junction are poorly set up, due to which pedestrians have to walk thrice the distance. The subway, without proper street lights, is completely dark even during the daytime, and has poor air circulation. The existing road amenities were put up along the junction in 2017 as part of a ₹300 crore revamping project. Iffco Chowk, a key junction in Gurugram, has three foot over bridges (FOBs) and a subway, but is “not even availed by a few pedestrians because of its poor condition”. They usually cross the junction against fast-moving traffic, risking their lives in the process, according to officials.

Around 33 road fatalities — highest at any single spot in Gurugram — were recorded along the junction between 2017 and 2021, and over 90% of the victims were pedestrians, said GVZ officials.

District deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, who inspected Iffco Chowk with several DRSC officials In August this year, said, “We realised during the inspection that the junction records a heavy traffic due to merging of major roads such as MG Road, and the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, among others. Pedestrians, too, risk their lives while crossing the junction... So, agencies concerned were directed to expedite work on redesigning the junction at the earliest.”

Traffic police, meanwhile, said that they have informed their marshalls about the upcoming trial. “The traffic trial will be conducted to come up with the best safety measures for the pedestrians, and streamlining the traffic. Further changes will be made, if needed, depending on the outcome of the trial,” said Ashok Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (traffic), Gurugram.