Mall Mile service lanes to lose access points with MG Road in GMDA redesign

GURUGRAM: To reduce traffic congestion on the Mall Mile of NCR, the GMDA has undertaken a project to redesign the service lane on the 1km stretch between MG Road and Sikanderpur Metro stations. Under the project, a number of access points from the main road to the service lane on the stretch are being sealed.
The move comes in the wake of a recent road safety audit that points out that MG Road is accident-prone because of the multiple entry and exit points from the main carriageway to the service lane. But it has not gone down well with residents of upscale condominiums dotted along the road, who say it will cause them daily inconvenience. Residents say in case of an emergency they could lose precious time in accessing the main road from the service lane. “Without taking representations or feedback from the stakeholders, GMDA has unilaterally decided to permanently block all points of access from MG Road to the nine metre service lane from IIFCO Chowk to Sikanderpur Metro Station,” said Henry Ledlie, a resident of Beverly Park II Apartments.
“This high-handed approach of GMDA is arbitrary, unreasonable, and would result in causing grave prejudice and inconvenience to all residents and visitors to the area. This has come as a shock to us as no prior intimation was given to any of us,” he added.
Residents also allege that the GMDA does not have a definite plan on how the traffic will move from the malls and the condominiums after it closes all exit and entry points leading from service lane to the main road. A group of residents also met with senior GMDA officials and raised their concerns.
“For the past 20 years, we have been using these entry and exit points. How can suddenly they can close the points?” said Narender Bhatia, a resident of Heritage City.
However, according to the GMDA, traffic jams will be cut down significantly if these access points are closed. “We do have a plan a close all exit and entry points leading to MG Road, however, we will be able to give a clear picture after discussing about this with the road safety auditor,” said a senior GMDA official.
TOI had earlier reported that with an objective to provide better roads, GMDA had planned to conduct surveys covering three different indices to check quality of roads. These include roughness index, peak volume capacity and road safety audits.