New Delhi: At Pushta Road near Kailash Nagar, one of Delhi’s chronic traffic bottlenecks, the average monthly queue length has come down from 12.9 km during Sept to Nov last year to just 2.2 km between April and June this year — an 82.6% reduction, according to official data reviewed by Lieutenant Governor T S Sandhu on Monday.This was among several improvements highlighted during a review meeting chaired by Sandhu and attended by Delhi Police commissioner Sanjay Arora and senior traffic officials to assess the impact of traffic management measures initiated after his April 2 directions to use artificial intelligence and better on-road management.Data presented at the meeting showed that traffic conditions improved across 30 of 62 identified congestion hotspots, where engineering interventions, stricter enforcement, increased deployment of traffic personnel and better coordination with civic agencies were undertaken. Work on the remaining locations is yet to begin.The corridors in focus are spread across all traffic ranges, with seven in south Delhi, six each in central and west Delhi, five in east Delhi, and the rest across New Delhi and northern ranges. Key locations include Kapashera Border, Bhavbhuti Marg near New Delhi Railway Station, Vikas Marg, ISBT Anand Vihar, Azadpur Mandi, Punjabi Bagh, Adhchini, Chirag Delhi and Ashram Chowk.Officials said at the meeting that the city’s average congestion length, measured using Google Maps every 15 minutes, fell from 48.3 km during Jan to March to 32.4 km between April and June 25, a reduction of nearly 33%.Khajuri Chowk recorded a reduction in average queue length from 17.1 km to 4.4 km. Improvements were also seen at Adchini Village, San Martin Tunnel, Majnu Ka Tila, Vishal Chowk, Shivaji Marg, Neela Gumbad and Sardar Patel Marg.Appreciating the progress, the LG said he would personally visit several of the sites to assess the changes on the ground. He said traffic congestion not only wastes commuters’ time and fuel but also adds to the capital’s pollution burden. Saying that seamless mobility is essential for Delhi’s competitiveness and its aspirations to become a global destination for investment and tourism, he assured traffic police of full administrative support to sustain the drive.Special CP (traffic) Manish K Agrawal said, “Strategic road engineering interventions coupled with the removal of encroachments and obstructions unlock the true carrying capacity of our roads. The result is smoother traffic flow, fewer bottlenecks, reduced delays and enhanced road safety. However, these can only bring incremental improvement and cannot be a substitute for increasing road capacity or reducing the number of vehicles.”However, congestion increased at four locations, including Naraina Flyover, South Extension Part I, Max Hospital in Saket and Bhavbhuti Marg, mainly due to ongoing road construction, civil projects and limited road capacity. Dwarka Mor, Sarai Kale Khan, Mukarba Chowk and Dabri Gol Chakkar were also flagged as major bottlenecks requiring sustained infrastructure interventions.Officials said the improvements were driven by road engineering measures, removal of encroachments, increased on-ground enforcement and regular coordination with PWD, MCD, NHAI, DMRC, DTC and NDMC. AI-based traffic monitoring and digital enforcement systems will now be expanded to enable round-the-clock monitoring of the congestion hotspots.
