Traffic cobweb: Unending agony at Ashram Chowk
20 Sep 2014 11:52 PM GMT
Experts blame the lack of foresightedness while drafting the Delhi Master Plan for severe congestion witnessed on the major Ring Road stretch.
Both end of the Ashram flyover witnesses a bottle-neck situation which cripples the Ring Road for hours, especially during the peak office time. The intersection beneath the flyover where the Mathura Road meets the Ring Road is equally caught in a traffic cobweb.
‘The area is very congested from 8 am to 9 am but after eight in the evening, traffic congestion in Ashram is at its peak,’ said a traffic official.
A big problem in Ashram is that of inter-state vehicles. ‘From one side it faces a massive traffic from Agra, Palwal and Badarpur while from another side there is a constant flow of traffic from Noida. It becomes very difficult to manage the situation,’ the traffic official.
The experts believe that bad planning is the main reason behind the current traffic mess in the city. ‘There is lack of correlation between land use that is decided in the master plan of the city and its current transport system. This is where the planning of Delhi falls short, said Dr PK Sarkar, head of the department of transport planning at the School of Planning and Architecture.
He further said, ‘Delhi was designed by following the Ring-Radial Concept, and it is because of a lack of foresightedness during the planning phase in early 60s, we witness such a traffic menace now.
‘Today if Delhi has to be revitalised, two things are to be developed simultaneously. One is the Ring Road and the other is the Delhi Metro whose network should be compatible with Delhi’s polycentric ring-radial structure,’ Sarkar added.
To make things worse at Ashram, a large part of the flyover is currently closed for two months due to repair works by PWD. To counter this problem, traffic moving towards Sarai Kale Khan has been diverted towards the Barapullah corridor.
Both end of the Ashram flyover witnesses a bottle-neck situation which cripples the Ring Road for hours, especially during the peak office time. The intersection beneath the flyover where the Mathura Road meets the Ring Road is equally caught in a traffic cobweb.
‘The area is very congested from 8 am to 9 am but after eight in the evening, traffic congestion in Ashram is at its peak,’ said a traffic official.
A big problem in Ashram is that of inter-state vehicles. ‘From one side it faces a massive traffic from Agra, Palwal and Badarpur while from another side there is a constant flow of traffic from Noida. It becomes very difficult to manage the situation,’ the traffic official.
The experts believe that bad planning is the main reason behind the current traffic mess in the city. ‘There is lack of correlation between land use that is decided in the master plan of the city and its current transport system. This is where the planning of Delhi falls short, said Dr PK Sarkar, head of the department of transport planning at the School of Planning and Architecture.
He further said, ‘Delhi was designed by following the Ring-Radial Concept, and it is because of a lack of foresightedness during the planning phase in early 60s, we witness such a traffic menace now.
‘Today if Delhi has to be revitalised, two things are to be developed simultaneously. One is the Ring Road and the other is the Delhi Metro whose network should be compatible with Delhi’s polycentric ring-radial structure,’ Sarkar added.
To make things worse at Ashram, a large part of the flyover is currently closed for two months due to repair works by PWD. To counter this problem, traffic moving towards Sarai Kale Khan has been diverted towards the Barapullah corridor.
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