Traffic police rejects short-term solution for RTR Marg mess

THE Delhi Traffic Police has rejected a short-term solution suggested by engineering consultants RITES for decongesting Rao Tula Ram Marg.

Traffic officers said the suggestion of allowing one-way traffic on Rao Tula Ram Marg to provide immediate relief from the perennial snarls on the road leading to the airport was not a feasible option.

The proposal says traffic will be diverted to Benito Juarez Marg for vehicles moving towards the airport. It will also allow traffic bound for Gurgaon to turn right.

The RTR Marg will carry traffic from Gurgaon, while vehicles going towards the airport can access the Ring Road through an existing right turn.

"The proposal submitted by RITES has practical problems. We have asked RITES to come up with alternatives. We feel that it will not decongest RTR Marg, rather Ring Road will get choked if we divert traffic moving from Moti Bagh towards RTR Marg to Benito Juarez Marg. The Ring Road does not have the capacity to take more load," Joint Commissioner Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg said.

Traffic police and the PWD were supposed to jointly conduct trial runs based on the proposal. But the the plan has been shelved for the time being.

As a long-term solution, RITES suggested opening the service road along Vasant Vihar for normal traffic to prevent vehicles from congesting the flyover on RTR Marg.

The service lane will be required for either expanding road space or for building a parallel flyover in the area. The government-appointed agency had also suggested that the lane should be reduced from six metres to 4.5 metres.

"Construction of a parallel flyover is absolutely necessary and we are drawing a plan," PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said.

Those living in the bungalows along the service lane in Vasant Vihar had opposed the plan, though PWD officials said the RITES proposal has received in-principle approval from the Lieutenant Governor.

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