Traffic crawls as Delhi rushes to expo

NEW DELHI: It was jam session in central Delhi for the second consecutive day on Thursday as auto expo was thrown open to public and most places in Connaught Place remained out of bounds for vehicles. The situation is expected to be the same on Friday and commuters not destined for Connaught Place or Pragati Maidan are advised to avoid these areas.
Traffic police said the jams were caused due to Connaught Place being closed and the mismanagement at the auto expo by CII."The width of the Outer Circle has been reduced from six to three lanes. The jams will take some days to clear out. Situation will improve once people get used to the diversions or stop taking the stretch for transiting. As for the auto expo, CII was supposed to create park and ride facilities for visitors, which has still not been done. Lack of parking is leading to confusion. On our part, we will deploy more traffic policemen from Friday,'' said Ajay Chadha, special commissioner of police (traffic).
Traffic snarls began as early as 9am. The worst affected areas were Mathura Road, Bhairon Road, ITO, Ring Road near Rajghat, IP Marg, Tilak Marg, Connaught Place. "I got stuck near Sunder Nagar on Mathura Road for nearly 45 minutes in the morning. The traffic light was switched off and vehicles were just not moving. Seeing the rush of vehicles ahead, I took U-turn after and went via Zakir Hussain Marg and India Gate go to Delhi University,'' said Prateep Sinha, a DU student.
The situation in Connaught Place was just as bad, as a drive from Outer Circle to ITO took over one hour. Added Sameeksha Khurana, a housewife: "It took me two hours to reach Mayur Vihar from Park hotel in the evening. Just getting to ITO seemed like a nightmare as Connaught Place was closed and the traffic was being diverted around it.''
Even those in areas other than central Delhi complained of jams as a drive from Greater Kailash to Sardar Patel Marg took businessman Aditya Jassi more than one and a half hours. "Whole of Chanakyapuri was clogged. Driving through Kamal Attaturk Marg was maddening. I wonder what's wrong with Delhi's traffic,'' he said.
Traffic police said the roads around Pragati Maidan are already carrying three times the traffic load than their capacity. Officials said any additional traffic, without the required arrangements, leads to chaos on Mathura Road, Bhairon Road and Ring Road. "Motorists not destined for Pragati Maidan and nearby areas are requested to avoid Mathura Road, Tilak Marg, Bhagwan Dass Road, Purana Quila Road, Bhairon Road, Shershah Road and India Gate during the auto expo,'' he added.
The police are planning to come down heavily on unauthorized parking on roads around Pragati Maidan including Mathura Road, Tilak Marg, Bhagwan Dass Road, Purana Quila Road, Bhairon Road, Shershah Road, Ring Road and India Gate. For this extra cranes have been arranged and vehicles found parked or waiting on the riad will be fined and towed away. Commercial vehicles have been diverted from these roads.
For Connaught Place, the traffic police are holding meetings with Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to rationalize the diverted bus routes to ensure traffic on the road network around CP doesn't get affected too much. The police are reportedly looking at changing circulation plans for roads in the area to bring down congestion.