Starting today, two cuts on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway to be shut: Traffic police

The city traffic police will close two cuts on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, located below the Shankar Chowk flyover, for a three-day trial starting Sunday morning, said officials.

One of these cuts enabled commuters travelling from the direction of Udyog Vihar to head towards Cyber City/ IFFCO Chowk, while the other was used by commuters travelling from Delhi and were on their way towards Udyog Vihar.

Commuters heading from Udyog Vihar towards Cyber City will now take the Ambience mall underpass during the trial phase while those coming from Delhi will have to first take the Shankar Chowk underpass, located below the Cyber City rapid metro station, and subsequently, take the Shankar Chowk u-turn flyover to head towards Udyog Vihar.

DCP traffic Ravinder Singh Tomar said that these changes will be enforced on a trial basis for better traffic management below the Shankar Chowk flyover as well as to reduce accidents and congestion.

Currently, traffic from Cyber City, Udyog Vihar and the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway all converge below the flyover. Following the closing of the cuts, the convergence of traffic from Udyog Vihar will be eliminated.

“On Saturday, signages were set up on the service lanes of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, on both the carriageways below the Shankar Chowk flyover. These will assist commuters with traffic diversions, and in addition, our traffic marshals will also be on ground to help direct traffic movement,” said Tomar.

Tomar said that traffic police decided to start the trial on Sunday as the volume of traffic is the lowest compared to the rest of the week.

“Prior to peak weekday traffic, we wanted commuters to get familiar with the traffic diversions. On Tuesday evening, depending on the success of the trial, we will take a call on making the changes a permanent one or may remove them if it has minimal impact,” said Tomar.

Traffic police officials said that they will be using concrete and plastic jersey barriers to block the cuts as it allows them to make traffic diversions on a temporary basis before any major engineering changes are required for blocking the cuts.

In December last year, the then deputy commissioner Yash Garg had directed Gurugram traffic police to close the cuts, following a survey of traffic congestion in areas near the Sirhaul toll. Last month, during the district road safety meeting, deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav had also directed traffic police to close the two cuts on a trial basis.