New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI) The newly-inaugurated Barapullah Phase-III corridor in Delhi witnessed an over-2-km-long traffic jam on Monday, causing vehicles to crawl towards Barapullah and Ring Road.
The traffic police said the congestion on the newly-opened corridor, along with structural bottlenecks, did not show up on Google Maps, prompting commuters to keep using the route and increasing traffic volume.
The heavy gridlock prompted the Delhi Traffic Police to issue an advisory on social media, asking commuters to avoid the affected stretch and take alternative routes toward National Highway-24 and DND.
“Traffic from Barapullah Phase-III is being diverted towards NH-24/DND to ease the pressure at the Barapullah junction,” it said in a post on X.
The traffic police added that the main bottleneck occurred on the old Barapullah flyover, where traffic from around eight to nine lanes merges into three lanes at a single point, causing congestion to stretch for a considerable distance.
Commuters also shared videos of the route from Mayur Vihar towards the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and said the jam stretched about 2 kilometres on this new road. Motorists reported inordinate delays on the stretch.
“Been in a bumper-to-bumper jam for the past 30 mins and have covered barely 2 kms,” a commuter said in a post on X. Another commuter said, “This seems like a complete mess every morning. Everyone should avoid this route, especially during morning hours.”
“I now understand and feel the pain of daily commuters on the Barapullah Phase-III Elevated Corridor,” another commuter said in a post on X.
“It hasn’t even been 10 days since its inauguration. The claim was that we’d reach AIIMS in 15 minutes,” another motorist wrote on X.
Traffic personnel are deployed at the spot to regulate the flow of vehicles. The congestion comes days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and other ministers inaugurated the Barapullah Phase-III corridor.
The congestion was reported around the Mayur Vihar Phase-I metro station and the Barapullah Phase-III elevated road, with several commuters taking to X to report delays during the morning rush.
The traffic police said the new Phase-III flyover on the Mayur Vihar side has three lanes, while the loops towards Sarai Kale Khan and DND also have three lanes each. The existing Barapullah flyover also has three lanes.
Traffic from these approaches, therefore, converges into the three lanes on the old flyover, creating a bottleneck, the traffic police said.
“Traffic personnel have been deployed at the merging points to regulate vehicle movement,” the Delhi Traffic Police said in its post on X.
It also said Google Maps was not reflecting the actual traffic situation and continued to show the stretch as experiencing smooth traffic.
The corridor was opened to improve connectivity between Mayur Vihar and the Barapullah network and provide a faster link towards south Delhi.
However, traffic build-up on the new stretch during peak hours has emerged as a concern for commuters, with several motorists reporting delays since its opening. PTI VBH RC
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