Speak up Delhi: Traffic mayhem as key flyover is close to repair gaping cracks

While the busy Lajpat Nagar flyover, a key stretch connecting South Delhi and NCR has been shut for repairs till January 14 after huge cracks appeared in it, lakhs of commuters face heavy traffic snarls every day. This is the second time since last year that the flyway has been shut for repairs while no signboards warning motorists of the closed bridge or of the alternative routes have been installed. The neglect reveals civic apathy and poor coordination among various government agencies.

The public works department (PWD) took up the repair work only after the gaps on the flyway had turned life-threatening, in particular, for two-wheeler riders.

"The repair work on such a busy stretch affecting such a large number of people was taken up, but surprisingly no big hoardings or signboards for alternative routes were put up. Instead, the agency let commuters suffer kilometer-long snarls burning thousands of litres of fuel, ambulances with critical patients caught in the jam for hours, people missing their flights and so on. This is just unacceptable," said Mayank Tripathi, a regular commuter.

In the first phase, a carriageway from the Ashram Chowk to Moolchand will remain shut between January 1 and 14. In the second phase, the carriageway from Moolchand to Ashram will remain closed during the same period.

According to traffic officials, in the first phase, due to the closure of the carriageway from Ashram to Moolchand, the traffic bound to go towards the Moolchand Hospital using the Lajpat Nagar has been advised to take the adjoining road beneath the flyover.

Officials, however, said that the advisory they issued earlier had warned that motorists will have to face congestion due to traffic spilling on to the adjoining slip road, till the repair work is completed.

However, traffic spilling on to alternative routes, including Mathura Road, Ashram Chowk, Ring Road, and Bhishm Pitamah Marg while commuting from south Delhi to central Delhi, too witness congestion during the peak hours while the traffic crawls on these roads.

Meanwhile, commuters coming from Noida from the DND flyway taking the Barapulla elevated road to reach South Delhi too have been facing huge jams since the traffic doubled on this stretch.

A huge gap had appeared between two girders on Ashram-Lajpat Nagar flyover on the busy Ring Road linking south Delhi to Noida.

"I use the flyover to commute daily. The government has neglected this issue time and again. Only when some tragedy happens, the authorities wake up to fix such loopholes," said Rachna Pillai, a daily commuter.

NO END TO WOES

• According to commuters, this is not the first time the busy Lajpat Nagar flyover has developed huge cracks
   
• Last year, the overpass had to be closed for traffic following similar problems
   
• Motorists are upset that there are no signboards telling them that the bridge is closed

EXPERT SPEAK

Flyovers are meant to reduce congestion on key roads and in case repairs are needed, the road-owning agency must take up maintenance work during the night to speed up the task. Besides, the major role has to be about making commuters aware of the diversions and the situation by announcing it through media such as radio, newspapers and television. The most important thing is to put up signboards guiding new motorists to alternate routes and warning signs of the stretch being closed. It is sad that in a capital city, such arrangements are not being made by the administration.
—P K Sarkar, head of Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture

VOICES

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to everyday manage living in such conditions where the authorities are both callous and indifferent to the plight of residents. The administration must be aware that the flyover will give way again. More so, it didn’t learn any lessons from last year either. Good that they are constructing it but not at the cost of public convenience. As it is traffic snarls are a norm in the capital. The government must give us an alternative route till this is sorted.
—Arun Dayal Bhatia, Greater Kailash-II

The shutting down of the flyover causes such long delays. The worst part is that they do not even have any signboards informing the shutdown, which makes it even more difficult. People go and then turn back, 
causing further delays and traffic. I wish this could be handled better. The entire last week, I reached office late due to this.
—Kartar Rana , IT professional

It is such a nightmare to commute to Noida while the flyover is shut every now and then. The biggest problem is that there are hour-long traffic jams both while crossing Delhi and after entering Noida. It has left just no breathing space for commuters who need to cross over every day. Now that the AAP government is there, nothing on the roads has changed. It is the same mess it used to be.
—Rashi Arora, Banker and regular commuter

This is sheer negligence and civic apathy that lakhs of commuters have to get stuck wasting time and money each time, as the agency cannot fix this in one go. I had to take a flight on Saturday and got stuck for more than half an hour around Nehru Place. I just barely made it in time to get inside else I would have missed the flight
—Sudhanyu Dimri

I cant believe the way things function in the capital city. This is where lakhs of tourists come down every year. However, there is no respite from government apathy. It is always an issue to just have basic rules such as guiding signages, which are missing from the stretch, even as hundreds of motorists get stuck here every day
—Anil Dimri