NEW DELHI: Blaming the Aam Aadmi Party for the Barapullah Phase-III traffic mess, PWD Minister Parvesh Verma on Wednesday said the entire project was planned and designed by the party’s government and a solution was being worked out to correct the faults. Since its opening last month, the stretch has seen crawling traffic because of design shortcomings.
“We recently held a meeting and discussions were on short-term and long-term solutions that have been suggested by traffic police; we will work on that. The traffic jam on Barapullah indicates that the Arvind Kejriwal government lacked foresight,” Verma said.
Sources said that the point where the new stretch merges with the old Barapullah stretch over Sarai Kale Khan junction on Ring Road is contributing to congestion.
The three-lane Barapullah Phase-III flyover merges with a two-lane stretch of the existing corridor near Sundial Park, while traffic from two other three-lane approaches also converge at the same point.
According to Verma, the PWD will widen the Ring Road stretch between ITO and Sarai Kale Khan junction by replacing a footpath with a fresh road lane. “PWD is working with the Delhi Traffic Police on immediate measures, including better utilisation of available road space, improved lane channelisation and smoother movement between Sarai Kale Khan and ITO,” the minister said.
Another proposal is construction of a U-turn in front of Gurudwara Shree Bala Sahab to provide residents living beneath the flyover access to the Old Barapullah approach road. “This will allow residents of Siddharth Extension to directly take Old Barapullah towards Lajpat Nagar, INA and AIIMS, without unnecessary diversion or wrong-side movement,” Verma added.