Indian Express 13.01.2010

Gurgaon civic body zooms in on roundabouts to handle traffic mess

Municipality takes tips from feasibility study — encroachment removal along roads on the cards

To ease traffic, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) will, for the first time, work on three major roundabouts in the Old City — at Agrasen Chowk (near the bus stop), Fountain Chowk and Rajiv Chowk (near the Mini Secretariat).

The civic body had roped in a Delhi-based NGO, Indian Road Safety Institute (IRSI), as its private consultant for the project. The IRSI carried out a month-long survey of the roundabouts and submitted its report last week.

The problem, at Agrasen Chowk and Fountain Chowk, according to Amandeep Singh Bedi of IRSI, is not only the high volume of traffic but also encroachment by hawkers and auto-rickshaws. “If the width of the road is 15 metres, encroachment by shopkeepers and illegal parking eat up more than two-third of the road space leaving barely 3.5 to 4 m of space for traffic movement. The situation is worse during peak hours, leading to traffic pile-ups at these junctions,” Bedi said.

The MCG will begin its task with minimal investment — removing encroachment along footpaths at the earliest. This will ensure pedestrians do not walk on roads and block traffic, a senior MCG official said. An illegal auto stand near the bus stop, another traffic nuisance resulting in jams on the entire stretch, will also be moved, the official added.

“A pedestrian overbridge is the best solution to ease traffic at Agrasen Chowk. But that is a later option. If the situation fails to improve despite the suggested measures, we might also consider installing traffic lights as a later plan,” an MCG official requesting anonymity added. The MCG will also put up signages and reflectors at important junctions.

The chaos at Rajiv Chowk, the IRSI study pointed out, was a result of wrong traffic movement on the main as well as service roads. “The only solution is to have traffic lights at this busy roundabout. This will ensure there is no movement in the wrong direction,” Bedi said.

The Gurgaon police have welcomed the move and said they will extend full cooperation in the projects. “It is a good move to involve private players to conduct studies on ways to manage the traffic chaos,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satinder Gupta said.

Roundabouts: problems galore

* Encroachment by hawkers, shopkeepers, auto-rickshaws

* Illegal parking

* Unmanned signals

* Wrong traffic movement

The ‘way out’

* Removing encroachment

* Pedestrian overbridge

* Traffic lights at busy junctions

* Putting up signages, reflectors