As Delhi's Signature Bridge opens, rush to ease on Ring Road and National Highway-9

NEW DELHI: The massive snarls around Wazirabad in north Delhi that choked Outer Ring Road in peak hours, is set to disappear from Monday as the traffic on this stretch will shift to the newly-inaugurated Signature Bridge.


Traffic policemen say that the bridge will not only ease pressure on Ring Road, but is expected to decongest the notorious snarls on NH-9, starting from Wazirabad Chowk near Khajuri Khas. Cops will conduct a drive on NH-9 in the next few days to accommodate the increased volume of vehicles.



Commuting time to Loni and Ghaziabad will also be reduced by nearly half-an-hour with the opening of the Signature Bridge. Cops, however, fear the sudden increase in traffic volume on the stretch might lead to bottlenecks near Majnu ka Tilla, which usually is congested due to the heavy volume of traffic on Outer Ring Road coming from Burari.

Police officers say the bridge will also take off considerable traffic from the Kashmere Gate ISBT. Earlier, goods and heavy vehicles from Karnal going towards east Delhi or Ghaziabad used to take a turn towards the Shahdara flyover from ISBT to reach east Delhi. However, the Signature Bridge will now provide them an alternative.

“We will study the traffic at Bhajanpura Chowk and Majnu ka Tilla on Monday to determine how much NH-9 and Outer Ring Road, near Majnu ka Tilla and Changdi Ram Akhara, can handle. A traffic plan will be prepared accordingly,” said joint CP (traffic) Alok Kumar.

Moreover, Signature Bridge will complement the old Wazirabad Bridge that serves as a major arterial link across the Yamuna for lakhs of people living in several northeast Delhi colonies and caters to more than two lakh vehicles each day. Residents of areas like Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Karawal Nagar, Gokulpuri, Nand Nagri and other such areas use this bridge to cross the river on a daily basis.

Some of the vehicles from Rohini and outer Delhi, going towards Loni, can now be diverted through the Wazirabad Bridge. As a measure to reduce the impact of the increase in volume, cops will conduct a drive against on-road parking near Majnu ka Tilla from Monday. They have also requested the civic bodies to install road markers near Timarpur and Wazirabad to direct northeast Delhi-bound traffic towards the Signature Bridge.