New Delhi: A day after TOI reported that traffic at Sarai Kale Khan is set to worsen as two major expressway corridors converge at the already-choked interchange, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has initiated the preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) to identify long-term engineering solutions to decongest the critical loop connecting the DND-Sohna section of NH-148NA.Every evening around 6pm, from the foot overbridge near Sundial Park, all one sees is a river of red brake lights stretching into the distance. One stream pours in from Ring Road while another crawls down the Barapullah flyover. Vehicles from Noida inch towards the same junction. Within minutes, the interchange turns into a slow-moving gridlock. Traffic queues on Ring Road routinely stretch up to 2km during peak hours, while vehicles descending from Barapullah remain bumper-to-bumper for over half a kilometre before negotiating the loop.Sarai Kale Khan is one of Delhi’s busiest convergence points, where traffic from Ring Road, DND Flyway, Barapullah and arterial roads connecting east and south Delhi merges. With the upcoming commissioning of the DND-Sohna section of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, another major stream of vehicles will feed into the same interchange, raising concerns the existing bottleneck could significantly worsen.Anticipating this, Delhi Traffic Police had proposed a series of engineering and traffic management measures.“Recognising the corridor’s strategic importance, NHAI will undertake DPR preparation on priority to identify comprehensive engineering solutions to decongest the junction and improve traffic circulation,” a senior NHAI official said.The DPR will evaluate infrastructure interventions to enhance capacity, reduce travel time, improve safety and ensure smoother vehicle movement through the corridor. “It will also ensure that the operational benefits of the DND-Sohna corridor are fully realised upon its commissioning by enabling seamless connectivity at this critical interchange,” the official added.
