Traffic likely to ease as key scissor cuts reworked on stretch in south Delhi

NEW DELHI: The first two phases of a pilot decongestion project between Dhaula Kuan and the Gurgaon border, one of the city's most crowded road stretches, have been completed. Started over a month ago after a high-level meeting chaired by chief secretary Naresh Kumar, the exercise was aimed at eliminating the persistent snarls caused by flawed road design and an enormous traffic volume.


The chaos on the stretch, particularly during peak hours, stems largely from three poorly planned scissor cuts at Shankar Vihar, Hotel Lohia and Shiv Murti, where vehicles enter and exit the carriageway at the same points. This forces vehicles to crisscross, slowing down traffic and causing long tailbacks, worsened by the proximity to Mahipalpur bypass and Rangpuri. The volume of traffic is itself a problem, with motorists heading to and from south Delhi, Dwarka, Gurgaon, Jaipur and the airport using the stretch.
Delhi Traffic Police, in collaboration with the National Highways Authority of India, devised a three-phase solution, the first two of which are completed. The scissor cut at Shankar Vihar was restructured to create a dedicated entry to the area, while the point near Hotel Lohia was designated 'exit' only.
"The first phase at Shankar Vihar has made some improvement," said Rajeev Kumar, DCP (Traffic, New Delhi). "The scissor cut that led to perennial slowdowns and long tailbacks. The Shankar Vihar point has been made exclusively entry and the one at Hotel Lohia, only exit. Our surveys show congestion reducing by a few minutes now."
Kumar added that Phase II tackled the Shiv Murti bottleneck by making the scissor cut there solely for exit and moving the entry point around 100 metres ahead. "We're aware that some congestion has shifted to a point near Mahipalpur due to the changes upstream, but that's expected and temporary," said Kumar. "These measures are part of a long-term strategy to make arterial routes safer and signal-free wherever possible."
The most critical exercise will be Phase III, which will focus on arrangements near Mahipalpur, fast emerging as the new pressure point, and conversion of the Hotel Lohia scissor cut into an exit-only zone.
Once all three phases are finished, which sources say is expected by June-end, the authorities hope the Dhaula Kuan-Gurgaon stretch will finally shed its tag as a perpetual bottleneck. Till then, motorists will continue to grumble on social media platforms.