Commuters growl as accident, breakdown clog Gurgoan traffic

Despite the conclusion of the Kanwar Yatra which was expected to ease the traffic situation in Gurgaon on Thursday, all the major roads including the Gurgaon expressway witnessed severe snarls in the morning. An accident, and a breakdown on the expressway flyover at Shankar Chowk also led to jams which extended to Rajokri towards Delhi side, and upto Signature tower in Gurgaon.

An accident on the left hand side of the main carriageway of Expressway at Shankar Chowk, and a breakdown in the opposite direction from Delhi to Gurgaon also led to traffic snarls on the entire expressway. Jams were witnessed on the main carriageway, and under the flyover from Signature Tower to Rajokri.

Gurgaon Joint Commissioner of Police, Bharti Arora said that traffic jams in the morning were caused by the accidents as movement of vehicles slowed down. The restriction of movement of trucks and heavy vehicles in view of the Independence Day would begin from tomorrow. “We will coordinate on this matter with Delhi police, and restrictions will be enforced strictly once the time is decided”, she said.

Apart from the two incidents, absence of traffic police, confusion caused due to removal of New Jersey Barriers at entry and exit points, and non-functional traffic signals also led to jams at toll plaza, near Cyber city, Iffco chowk, and other major junctions.

Rohit Jairath, General Manager, Skylark, which operates, and maintains the expressway also said that two incidents at almost the same point on opposite sides of the expressway lead to jams in the morning. He however said that movement of trucks is continuing on the borders, and no restrictions are yet in place.

Commuters however will have to watch out for slowdowns on Friday as heavy trucks, and vehicles are likely to be stopped at borders from Friday, and this could lead to jams especially on the borders at Kapashera, and Sirhaul. Police however said that trucks are mostly stopped before Manesar, and not allowed to enter Gurgaon after restrictions are imposed.

With police deployed for Kanwar yatra returning to barracks, jams were also witnessed on Old Delhi Gurgaon road at various stretches with worst condition at Hanuman Chowk batween Dundahera and Kapahera border.

Traffic was also choked at Krishna Chowk, in front of Palam Vihar cut, and Shani Mandir which made crossing it almost impossible in the morning. Traffic also moved very slowly from Samalkha to Kapashera as shared autos, parked buses made movement difficult.

A single police official deployed at Hanuman Chowk said that entire road Old Delhi Gurgaon road is potholed, and the vehicles are moving very slow which cause jams. “Thousands of vehicles arrive here in the morning with office goers which mixes with pedestrians going to udyog vihar for work leading to traffic mess”, said constable Rajesh.

Heavy jams across the city forced people to vent their anger on micro blogging site Twitter.

Similar situation was witnessed from Atul Kataria Chowk to Signature tower where vehicles remained stranded for almost half an hour and commuters had to take a detour towards Old Gurgaon to cross the highway.

Sanjay, who has his office in Sector 23, said that unless government makes a plan traffic situation will not improve. “It is easy working in a office but reaching there has become impossible”.

Jam was also witnessed at Jharsa cut, Rajiv chowk whereas Hero Honda chowk was surprisingly clear of traffic at around 10 am. Faridabad Gurgaon expressway also witnessed a jam in the morning.

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