Once upon a time, there was a red light crossing at the junction of Sri Fort Road, Gk1 A block road, and Josip Broz Tito Marg. No doubt the crossing was a bottleneck and time consumer for fast traffic on Josip Broz Tito Marg. Traffic police decided to close this crossing in the interest of smooth traffic movement a couple of years back. Traffic police created two U-turns on either side of the crossing to facilitate traffic from Sri Fort Road to Chirag Delhi flyover, or GK1, and traffic from GK1 to Sri Fort Road. This experiment did not work for long as it disrupted traffic movement and created speed breakers at both U-turns.
The traffic police finally decided to close the U-turn for traffic from Sri Fort Road to Chirag Delhi and Gk1 on the Kendriya Vidyalaya flyover side but continued with a U-turn for traffic from GK1 to Sri Fort Road on the Chirag Delhi flyover side.
This U-turn has become a nightmare for drivers and is causing slowing of traffic, jams, and minor accidents. The problem is not with the U-turn or drivers of vehicles. The problem is caused by two-wheelers and pedestrians going from the Chirag Delhi side to GK1. They cross over to another side of the road from the wrong side by using the U-turn, crossing the fast-moving traffic, and then driving in the wrong direction for a couple of meters to enter GK1 A Block Road. The numbers of such offenders are huge between 7 am and 11 am. This impacts traffic flow from Kendriya Vidyalaya flyover to Chirag Delhi flyover during peak hours and also blocks the use of U-turn by vehicles travelling rightfully from GK1 to Sri Fort Road. For those going from Greater Kailash -1 to Sri Fort Road, a U-turn at this spot is a bottleneck, as when drivers take a U-turn, they face a traffic red light, compounding the traffic congestion at the U-turn.
Delhi Traffic Police needs to take immediate action to prevent man-made disasters and rectify the situation. Either the U-turn be moved further towards Chirag Delhi flyover by 100 meters to dissuade two-wheelers and pedestrians from crossing over from the wrong side or close the U-turn or a traffic police constable be posted at the U-turn during peak hours to prevent misuse of U-turn. A foot-over bridge may also be constructed by MCD next to the bus stand to facilitate crossing across Josip Broz Tito Marg at the crossing for DTC bus users (domestic workers and M Block market staff) coming to GK1 every day from Chirag Delhi/ Khanpur/Dakshin Puri and adjoining areas.
