Traffic chaos from flyover closure spills into fifth day

New Delhi: Noida resident Sunita Singh relies on the Chirag Delhi flyover to travel to her workplace near IIT-Delhi. These days, her daily commute is dotted by countless stops and inordinate delays as closure of one of the flyover's carriageways for repairs has choked traffic along the route. "I have no option but to take this route. I am waiting for the work to finish so that it can return to normality. It's not that there were no jams before the closure but that used to happen once in a while. Now, it has became a daily affair," she said.

Traffic snarls stemming from the closure of key stretches for repair and construction works in south Delhi spilled into the fifth day on Friday. The Chirag Delhi flyover closed on Sunday for a combined 50 days while a section of the Delhi-Jaipur Highway (NH-48) between Rangpuri and Rajokari was shut for 90 days from Tuesday. The Delhi Traffic Police has been regularly updating commuters about traffic movement along the routes on its official Twitter handle. A senior traffic police official said, "We have deployed extra personnel along the closed routes and those on the ground are trying their best to ensure smooth flow.

"At present, the movement of vehicles is slow due to the construction work on the other carriageway of the (Chirag Delhi flyover) route. Our personnel have been suggesting alternate routes to reduce inconvenience."

The police are alerting commuters about the flow of traffic and urging them to follow its advisory to plan their journeys. "Movement of traffic is slow from Nehru Place towards IIT flyover due to traffic diversions along Chirag Delhi flyover. Presently, there is delay of 15-20 minutes to commute through this stretch. Kindly see the advisory," the Delhi Traffic Police said in a tweet. It also informed commuters about the diversions along NH-48 since a section of the Delhi-Jaipur Highway has also been closed for construction.

"Movement of traffic is slow on the carriageway from Dhaula Kuan towards Rajokari due to traffic diversions along NH-48. Presently, there is delay of 20-25 minutes to commute through this stretch. Kindly see the advisory," the police tweeted. Pragya Tiwari, who travels to Delhi for work from her home in Gurugram, has been witnessing heavy traffic on NH-8. "Since the carriageway between Rangpuri and Rajokari has been closed, commuters who usually took that particular route are being diverted to other routes.

They are now adding to the traffic woes (on our usual routes)," she said. On Tuesday, Public Works Department Minister Atishi directed officials to complete the Chirag Delhi flyover maintenance work within a month against the earlier deadline of 50 days. She also held a meeting with senior department officials to resolve the issue on a priority.