NEW DELHI: In an attempt to decongest Delhi’s busiest and congested traffic intersection—ITO—the Traffic Police has planned to make the intersection partially signal-free. There will be no right turn for the East Delhi-bound motorists coming from Mandi House, India Gate and Pragati Maidan. The police have also decided to do away with several red lights at the intersection.
As per the plans, the traffic coming from Tilak Bridge will be diverted towards Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg permanently. “The commuters will thereafter take Vishnu Digamaber Road which connects to Kotla Road and then to Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. People going to East Delhi will take U-turn at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg and then left turn for Vikas Marg,” Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander told The Sunday Standard. The officer said that traffic coming from New Delhi Railway Station will be diverted from the road connecting new Comptroller and Auditor General of India office to Kotla Road.
The officer said that they are planning to construct a roundabout at Ram Charan Agarwal Chowk with two traffic lights. The commuters coming from Vikas Marg will be diverted towards Tilak Marg and there will be a traffic light of 30 seconds for commuters to move towards Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.
After several meetings with all the agencies concerned—Public Works Department, Delhi MetroRail Corporation and State Transport Department—the Delhi Traffic Police arrived at this decision. “We are expected to complete the project by August this year,” said the officer.
Interestingly, the ITO intersection caters to over four lakh vehicles per day and an estimate suggests that fuel worth over Rs 350 crore annually is wasted just to cross this stretch. Going by the estimates, over 16,000 vehicles cross the traffic intersection per hour. Considering only the rush hours—three hours in the morning and another three hours in the evening—and a lakh vehicles crossing the stretch daily, the fuel consumption on the stretch amounts to Rs 1 crore daily.
■ 4 lakh vehicles cross ITO intersection per day
■ Fuel worth over Rs 350 crore annually is wasted at the crossing