South East Delhi traffic woes to increase as PWD starts repairs on Mathura Road
The Police will divert the traffic from the intersection point at Mathura Road, New Friends Colony East/West towards Mata Mandir Road.
South Delhi has been witnessing traffic jams owing to repair and construction work. (Express Photo: Amit Mehra) Commuting in South East Delhi is going to be all the more difficult as the Public Works Department (PWD) has decided to start repairs on the Mathura Road, even though work on the Ashram Chowk underpass and re-development of the Modi Mill Flyover is yet to be completed.
Mathura Road is one of the key alternative stretches for commuters to escape the Ashram traffic. Now, owing to work on the Mathura Road, traffic movement on all the alternative routes to reach Sarai Kale Khan, East Delhi and Central Delhi, Noida, Badarpur and Faridabad will be severely affected in the coming days.
The Police will divert the traffic from the intersection point at Mathura Road, New Friends Colony East/West towards Mata Mandir Road. If commuters wish to travel to ISBT Sarai Kale Khan and Hazrat Nizamuddin, they would have to take the approach road via Mata Mandir Road to C V Raman Marg and then take a left to Ring Road to the Ashram Chowk.
People travelling to Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony or areas to the west of Ashram Chowk will have to take the Modi Mill Flyover. However, traffic on the flyover stretch is extremely slow as the PWD is replacing the expansion joints. A portion/loop of this stretch from the Ashram to Sukhdev Vihar and Kalkaji is also closed.
“Traffic movement will also be closed between 10.30 pm to 6 am for people coming from Badarpur towards Ashram,” the police said.
Reacting to the closures, experts said that the alternative routes in this part of the city are already choked, leading to long traffic jams on a daily basis.
S Velmurugan, the chief scientist at CRRI, said, “The PWD should have started the repair work after completing the underpass work at Ashram. They have started this work without any proper plan and traffic management solution. I wonder how they got the non-objection certificate from the traffic police.”
He added: “Because of this, all the alternative routes are also choked. Several months have passed and the underpass is still not ready. Even if it opens now, the traffic jams will remain the same because of the flyover work, which will at least take seven more months to be completed.”
Complaining about the situation, a resident of CRRI Colony at CV Raman Marg said, “South Delhi has become a gridlock now because of the traffic mess. We, as residents, are suffering the most. Cabs refuse to take bookings for this area, and even if they accept, they cancel it after a point saying they are stuck in traffic jams.”
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had announced that the Ashram underpass will be ready by March 22. “The work is on schedule. It will help ease the traffic movement and the commute from Ashram, Faridabad and Badarpur to India Gate and ITO will be smooth and easy,” a PWD official said.
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