Examine feasibility of car lanes on e-way: HC to NHAI

GURGAON: In a bid to smoothen the movement of traffic on Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, the Punjab and Haryana high court has ordered the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to find out the feasibility of dedicated car lanes along the stretch.
The court gave the order on December 11 during a hearing in an ongoing case between the Haryana government and Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited, after coming down heavily on the district authorities, including HUDA, MCG and the Gurgaon Police, for failing to act to ease traffic movement along the expressway, despite its repeated orders.
While the NHAI will do the feasibility study, the police have been asked to submit a strategy on how to maintain law and order along the stretch between the now-defunct toll plaza near the Ambience Mall and the Kherki Dhaula toll plaza.
The MCG has also been asked to ensure proper drainage on service lanes from Rajiv Chowk to Kherki Dhaula by May 2015, so that there is no water-logging during the rainy season.
In fact, water-logging between this stretch has always been a matter of concern during every monsoon as the traffic comes to a standstill each time there is a downpour.
When contacted, MCG's chief engineer RK Singhla told TOI: "We have made a conclusive proposal to end the issue of water-logging and creating necessary drainage infrastructure to tend to the problem along the expressway. The total cost of the project will be close to Rs 35 crore."
On the feasibility study, NHAI's manager (technical) PK Kaushik welcomed the court's orders and said that "having dedicated car lanes may be a good option to ease the congestion".
"However, it is too soon to decide on this as there is already an approved plan to make three underpasses along major intersections on NH-8 that will considerably help ease traffic," he added.
The Gurgaon Police, said that it has always submitted to the court suggestions to end traffic mess at Kherki Dhaula. "We have time and again submitted our suggestions to ease traffic to concerned departments, including MCG and HUDA, and have made similar suggestions as requested by the court," deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Vinod Kaushik, said.
The high court had in March and May this year asked all agencies, including NHAI, HUDA and MCG, as well as the police to sit down together and submit a status report on the traffic congestion along the expressway and suggest methods to ease the same. But none of the agencies showed interest.