BRT Corridor’s scrapping process may enhance traffic woes, feel cops

The Delhi Traffic Police has geared up after the Delhi government has cleared the budget for converting BRT Corridor into a normal road. At the same time, the traffic cops are also prepared to be criticised as the traffic on the BRT corridor will stand still once the stretch is dismantled and will lead to traffic chaos.

On Tuesday, the Delhi government approved a proposal by the PWD for dismantling the stretch at a cost of Rs 11 crore for turning the corridor into a normal road from next week.

Expressing his concern over the dismantling of the BRT Corridor, a senior traffic police official said: “Dismantling is not a solution. It will take around two months to make traffic movement normal on this stretch. All the concerned agencies need to coordinate and work together to wind up the operation of dismantling the corridor.”

The senior police official further added that since 2008, the accident rate on the BRT Corridor has also gone up. Apart from this the corridor also faces major problems of traffic congestion. “It’s almost seven years since the BRT Corridor was made operational but the commuters are yet to understand the road structure and the signaling system. Also, the bus stands which are located in the middle of the roads are another problem faced by the commuters,” the official said.

“During the peak hours, the heavy movement of traffic makes life miserable. Now, as the government has decided to dismantle the corridor into a normal stretch, the citizens are requested to be patient in the initial months as the small dividers and bus stands need to be scrapped. The red light signal will be made non-functional for some time as new red light signals will be installed. For the time being, heavy traffic police force will be deployed on the stretch to guide the commuters and to help the workers to scrap the corridor,” the official added.

The BRT Corridor was mired in controversy since it became operational in 2008 as motorists complained of long traffic snarls and bus commuters had to put up with utter chaos. Shoddy implementation meant the earmarking of lanes was not adhered to and middle-of-the-road bus stops put pedestrians’ safety at risk.

Of the 14.5 km BRT corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate, only a 5.8-km stretch is operational. The biggest mistake made was to limit the length of the corridor to 5.8 km instead of completing the whole stretch of 18 km before opening it for regular operations. 

If the corridor had been completed, a huge number of bus commuters, cyclists and pedestrians would have been convinced of the benefits and supported the government against the naysayers.