Why traffic chokes on road to Huda City Centre every day

Arya Samaj Road that connects Huda City Centre with Bakhtawar Chowk remains congested throughout the day.
Several measures — barricades around Huda City Centre, footbridges in front of the metro station, traffic signals at the intersecting Sector 40 road and a roundabout at Bhakhtawar Chowk — have failed to unclog this 4km-long stretch. Driving on this road particularly during the peak hours is nothing less than a nightmare.

The road, which also goes to Cyber Park, sectors 40, 44, 45, 46 and 47 and Medanta hospital, has three major bottlenecks — the intersections with Sector 40 road, Santosh Yadav Marg, and Bhagwan Mahaveer Marg.

Commuters blamed illegal parking along the roadsides, poor traffic management and faulty traffic signals for regular congestion on this stretch.

They claimed covering a distance of merely 4km sometimes takes 20 minutes. “I live on Sohna road. While the entire journey takes about 30 minutes, I spend 20 minutes from Huda City Centre metro station till this road. There is always heavy traffic till Santosh Yadav Marg,” said Jagrit Singh, a resident of Sohna Road. Many commuters blamed the defunct or faulty traffic signal at Sector 40 intersection for the chaos.

“I have been travelling on this route for more than two years. The traffic signal works for a few days and then breaks down, until it is repaired weeks later. Due to this, vehicles coming from both the Huda City Centre side and Bhakhtawar Chowk side don’t stop. As a result, vehicles coming from the intersecting Sector 40 and Sector 45 roads get stuck,” said Siddharth Yadav, a resident of Sector 47.

Illegal parking of cabs and auto-rickshaws on the road is also a major issue.

“Many cabs illegally park and halt in service lanes as they want to be close to the metro station, where they get passengers easily. This leads to chaos at the main road. Traffic police need to be extremely vigilant, even during non-peak hours, to address this issue,” said Tanvi Kohli, who commutes regularly on the stretch.

Residents held poor traffic management responsible. “There is a need to regulate traffic during peak hours. Traffic cops are only present around Huda City Centre. Despite several requests by residents, they are absent on the Arya Samaj Road during peak hours,” said Niyti Sharma of Sector 45.

Meanwhile, traffic cops said they are carrying out regular drives to decongest the road. “This road has been our major focus for the last five years. Except one, all the signals are functional. The problem is more to do with illegal parking of autos and cabs and an increase in vehicular movement. We have been carrying out regular challan drives on the road, and it has made the situation a little better,” a senior traffic police officer said.