Raj Nagar Extn: Newly-constructed U-turn irks commuters; GDA assures solution

The U-turn, constructed recently near Delhi 6 market complex to manage and streamline traffic in Raj Nagar Extension, has severely failed in fulfilling its purpose.

Heavy traffic jams during peak hours can be witnessed during peak hours since the day it was opened for public.

(Traffic at the roundabout near River Heights society)

"Huge traffic snarls in the evening. It takes me half an hour to reach my home from Morti junction," said Vikas Rathi, a resident of KW Srishti.

"From 5:30 till 9 pm, this road looks like parking slots where vehicles can be seen standing bumper to bumper. This is the magnitude of traffic here,” stated Beerdhar, a roadside hawker.

While reporting about the issue, City Spidey found out there are two reasons behind this mess.

First is the non-closure of the cuts proposed with the construction of U-turn. Three cuts were proposed for the closure but only one was closed by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA). Two other cuts, at Janata Integrity and Fortune Residency, are still open.

"The problem will be solved once the other cuts are closed," a GDA official assured.

However, the residents have other views on it as they said that closure of cuts would add to the mess.

"If the cut at Ajnara Integrity is closed, the problem of traffic would increase as people will have no other option than taking the new U-turn to reach another side of the road," told Mayank Kaushik, a resident of Charms Castle.

Secondly, it is the size of the U-turns which aggravates the problem.

"The roundabout near River Heights and the latest one, both are inefficient in catering the mobility of heavy vehicles," said Shubham Srivastava, a resident SCC Heights.

"While the new U-turn has captured almost half of the road in order to make way for the vehicles to turn, it has created a problem for the vehicles going towards Meerut or old Ghaziabad," he explained.

Other residents also complained the roundabout at River Heights is badly engineered. They said it gives very little space to the vehicles exiting the Raj Nagar Extension area. The road becomes narrow after at the turn which leads to a trail of vehicles.

However, chief engineer VN Singh accepted the engineering faults at the roundabout, the U-turn and said issues will be resolved after proper availability of the land.

"Once we avail extra land, we would construct more U-turns and will widen the existing road to accommodate the traffic," Singh added.