Gurgaon: A traffic diversion meant to ease pressure at Shankar Road has pushed congestion deeper into Udyog Vihar, turning the morning commute into a daily ordeal for thousands of office-goers travelling to the industrial and corporate hub.The problem is most visible in Udyog Vihar phases 2, 3, 4 and 5, where inadequate parking within office and industrial premises, vehicles parked along the carriageways, heavy commercial traffic and the recent diversion have left several stretches struggling to handle the volume of vehicles passing through.The closure of the direct right turn towards Phase 3 from Shankar Road side has altered the flow of vehicles entering Udyog Vihar. Commuters heading to Phase 3 from Shankar Chowk must now continue to the next traffic signal, turn towards Phase 4, or negotiate a U-turn before reaching their destination. This has created pressure at the next intersection, particularly during the morning rush between 8.30am and 11am, as cars, office cabs, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles converge at the signal and jostle to change lanes or make U-turns.The diversion is not the only problem. With demand for parking far exceeding available space at most offices, factories and industrial establishments, vehicles are routinely parked along the roadside, narrowing already busy roads and leaving moving traffic with fewer lanes. Large commercial vehicles — which need more room to manoeuvre — struggle to negotiate stretches already choked by parked cars and moving traffic.Naina, a commuter working in Phase 3, said the daily journey has become a test of patience. “There are days when the distance from the main road to my office should take only a few minutes, but the traffic inside Udyog Vihar makes it much longer. The biggest problem is that the road is already narrow because of parked vehicles, and then cabs and other vehicles stop in the middle for pickups and drops,” she said.Sunil Shehrawat, another office-goer, said the diversion had made commuting more cumbersome and called for traffic police to reopen the cut, arguing it had failed to serve its purpose. “At peak hours, that entire stretch gets packed. By the time you reach the office, you have already spent a lot of time stuck in traffic. Now it usually takes me 25-30 minutes to reach my office in sector 20 merely from Ambience Mall side,” he said.Pedestrians face an even tougher time. Several stretches lack a continuous, usable walking path, forcing employees to walk close to moving traffic — a risk compounded by horticulture, landscaping, fencing and other barriers outside some establishments that further squeeze pedestrian space. “Walking is sometimes more stressful than driving here. There are stretches where there is no proper space for pedestrians, so we have to walk along the road while vehicles are passing very close to us,” said Parth Sharma, another employee working in Udyog Vihar.Despite barricades and the revised traffic movement, motorists can frequently be seen driving on the wrong side to avoid the longer route, forcing oncoming vehicles travelling correctly to slow down or swerve, creating fresh conflict points and further eating into road capacity. Heavy vehicles taking the same shortcut compound the impact. Traffic personnel have been deployed at key points during peak hours, but enforcement remains a challenge as motorists continue to look for ways around the diversion.Udyog Vihar’s traffic troubles cannot be viewed in isolation from the wider road network. Slowdowns on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway or congestion around Shankar Chowk quickly spill over into the industrial hub, while heavy vehicle and commuter movement near Dundahera and the Kapashera border adds further pressure on connecting roads — meaning congestion at one point can trigger a chain reaction across multiple stretches, leaving commuters inside Udyog Vihar with little room to escape the gridlock.Traffic officials said their focus had initially been on managing congestion at Shankar Chowk, and that attention was now turning to the problems emerging inside Udyog Vihar. “Our traffic cops remain deployed in Udyog Vihar, especially during peak hours, to clear congestion. We will soon find a scientific solution to the traffic issues inside Udyog Vihar as our teams are already analysing the traffic issues,” said ACP Satypal Yadav, traffic police spokesperson.The challenge for authorities, another traffic police officer said, is not simply removing one bottleneck but managing the entire network spanning Shankar Chowk, Udyog Vihar, the expressway, and the approaches from Dundahera and Kapashera.
