Gurgaon: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planning a three-lane elevated corridor on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway to ease traffic congestion between Delhi’s Shiv Murti and Haryana border near Ambience Mall. The elevated corridor is expected to be around 2km long.This section of the expressway sees the heaviest traffic volume, reducing the drive between the two cities to a crawl through large parts of the morning and evening.The three-lane elevated corridor is planned from the right-turn tunnel of Dwarka Expressway interchange near Rangpuri, with traffic emerging from the underpass being proposed to be directed onto the elevated section towards the city. Instead of merging with the already busy main carriageway of NH8, vehicles coming out of the underpass will be required to take the elevated corridor.An NHAI official said, “The plan is to take the traffic coming from Dwarka Expressway above the existing road to ease congestion. The proposed structure will have three lanes on a single-pier configuration. It will run parallel to the existing Rajokri flyover. The proposal has been prepared and it is under active consideration.”The official said the proposal has been drawn up after a traffic assessment found that the entire NH8 stretch between Shiv Murti and Haryana border, including its service roads, is operating at Level of Service F during peak hours. In simple terms, the road is functioning beyond its comfortable capacity, with traffic moving slowly and queues building up till Mahipal flyover. The problem has become more pronounced after the opening of Dwarka Expressway.Traffic from several parts of the capital — including south, west and southwest Delhi — now converges at Shiv Murti before entering the millennium city. Vehicles from Sonipat, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad also add to the load on this network.Traffic problem is particularly visible on the stretch approaching Ambience Mall. A substantial portion of vehicles travelling on NH8 towards the city eventually needs to move towards the service road near the mall. But the existing two-lane service road has limited capacity. As vehicles queue up there, the tailback spills onto NH8 main carriageway. This creates a knock-on effect, with the congestion extending backwards towards Shiv Murti.According to a survey, the daily traffic volume recorded on NH8 main carriageways was 1.2 lakh vehicles on one side and 1.6 lakh on the other. The service roads and various interchange movements also carry thousands of vehicles every day.The existing NH8 has an eight-lane main carriageway, with four lanes in each direction, apart from two-lane service roads on both sides. Despite this, the main carriageways and service roads witness heavy traffic pressure.However, traffic on NH-8 from Delhi will not be allowed to enter the proposed elevated road. It will continue on the existing four-lane carriageway. The elevated corridor is meant primarily for vehicles coming out of Dwarka Expressway underpass.By keeping this traffic separate from the existing NH8 flow, NHAI expects to reduce the pressure created by merging of the two streams.According to the plan, the elevated road will continue across Haryana border and come down opposite Ambience Mall. A ramp is proposed near the approach of the existing Rajokri flyover. This will allow vehicles heading towards Gurgaon service road to leave the elevated corridor and reach destinations such as Ambience Mall, Cyber City and Udyog Vihar.Vehicles heading further into the city will continue on the elevated road before it eventually merges with the existing NH8 main carriageway.This is also expected to help vehicles already travelling on NH8 towards the service road opposite Ambience Mall, as some of the traffic pressure at ground level would be taken out of the existing carriageway.However, the elevated road alone may not address the bottleneck near Ambience Mall. For this, a separate flyover has been proposed by DLF along the city-bound service road from Ambience Mall to Cyber City to increase its capacity. The proposal is currently under consideration by Haryana govt.“The idea is to create a continuous system in which traffic from Dwarka Expressway gets a dedicated elevated route, vehicles bound for Ambience Mall and Cyber City can exit through a ramp and the service road itself gets additional capacity through the proposed flyover till Cyber City,” the official added.
