NOIDA: The 195-metre second
U-turn being built under the DND loop carrying traffic from Delhi exiting for Noida sectors 15A and 16A, will be ready by May-end. However, the U-turn is likely to pose multiple challenges to commuters throughout the day, especially during peak hours.
The U-turn, being seen as an attempt to please Sector 15A residents, who complain of having to drive down a long way to turn back for going to Mayur Vihar, is being built at a cost of nearly Rs 40 lakh.
According to experts, commuters who avail the U-turn will end up stalling traffic coming from Delhi on the other carriageway, which anyway moves at snail’s pace during peak hours. They will also stall traffic from Sector 15A going towards
Greater Noida by causing a jam at the U-turn.
The construction work for the U-turn started a few metres ahead of the first DND loop after a ceremony on February 4 in which
Noida Authority officials and Union minister Dr Mahesh Sharma had participated.
A reality check on Wednesday found incoming traffic approaching the U-turn on the
Noida-Delhi carriageway slowing down. As commuters slow down, they tend to move towards their left where a patch of the road has been widened to facilitate traffic movement.
However, the same is not possible on the other side but once the U-turn is ready, commuters from two sides will be using it mostly.
One will be those commuters coming from Sector 15A who want to travel towards Delhi and second will be those coming down from the DND loop on the Delhi-Noida carriageway who want to travel towards Sector 14A or Mayur Vihar.
A traffic police officer told TOI that these commuters would cross over to the other carriageway disrupting traffic. “During peak hours, this will create a bottleneck for those travelling straight while during normal hours, when traffic moves at a very fast pace, this might be dangerous,” said the officer.
Anurag Kulsreshtha, president, TRAX, an NGO working for road safety, told TOI that the U-turn is meant only for residents of Sector 15A and not for common public.
It will be very dangerous in the night, and especially when heavy vehicles like buses and trucks try to use it, he said.
“The lane is very narrow for such a U-turn. At such a link road, where you cannot slow down, if buses try to use the U-turn, they will stall traffic coming from behind. And you cannot regulate them in such a heavy traffic. Further, at night, the U-turn can pose more danger when visibility is low and vehicles start taking U-turns from here,” he said.
Sandeep Chandra, incharge, Noida traffic cell, told TOI that the Authority has spent a considerable amount of money on the U-turn and will not go back on the idea.
“An over-head barrier will be installed so that buses and trucks cannot enter,” he said.
