DND flyway between Delhi and Noida has become a crawlway in 18 years

The opening of the Delhi Noida Direct (DND) Flyway on February 7, 2001, was a boon for those travelling between Delhi and Noida. Eighteen years later, the DND Flyway is like most other roads in Noida — congested, saturated and chaotic. Finding a solution now seems difficult, even for experts, without widening of roads. What was once the lifeline of intercity travel between Delhi and Noida is now a last resort.

Before the DND Flyway became operational, the Nizamuddin flyover and Okhla barrage were the two connections between Noida and Delhi, both widely used. On the DND Flyway, traffic increased after the Mayur Vihar link road opened in 2006-07. The traffic volume of 13,000 vehicles per day in 2001 became 2.5 lakh per day in the 18 years since and the stretch is now a nightmare for commuters. “I have been living in Noida for 15 years now and travelling to Delhi every day for work. There was a time when the DND Flyway was new and not many people used it. My drive was smooth and hassle free. Now, there is not a single day when I’m not completely drained by the time I reach home because of the time I spend waiting near the DND exit,” Manish Tyagi, a businessman who lives in Noida, said.

The main bottleneck is at the loop in DND’S exit towards Sector 16A and Film City. There are two major problems at this point. Firstly, the six-lane traffic of the high-speed DND corridor merges into two lanes at the exit, inevitably making it congested.

Secondly, the road where the exit meets the Noida-greater Noida Expressway is already full of vehicles entering Noida from the Noida or Chilla Gate.

While the Noida-greater Noida Expressway is wide enough with four lanes on both sides, the merging of two busy stretches creates a massive gridlock every morning and evening, something even the traffic police are weary of.

“The Noida entry and exit towards the DND is the single biggest choke point of the city without question and my biggest concern. This is mostly because of the sheer volume of traffic in this area. We always have staff manning the DND exit near Film City and the entry near Mahamaya flyover and there is no way other than to manually keep the traffic moving, albeit slowly,” Anil Kumar Jha, superintendent of police (traffic), said.

He said several rounds of meetings and site visits have also been organised with the Noida authority to address the congestion around the DND entry and exit. However, no concrete step has been taken so far. “We have asked the Noida authority to reduce the size of the central verge, the medians and the shoulder at twothree points to create an additional lane for smoother movement. Besides, there is no point in having such large and wide medians when we are struggling for space,” Jha said.

Meanwhile, authority officials said the problem has been raised several times and solutions are being worked out. “We have spoken to various agencies and experts and we are trying to figure out the best possible solution. For now, we have worked out a way to channelise traffic on the DND where the exit starts. We will be placing Jersey barriers to channel traffic gradually towards the exit so that vehicles don’t crowd near the exit all at once. This is a pilot project and will be implemented within this week — we will wait and see the results,” Rajeev Tyagi, general manager, Noida authority, said.

Source : Hindustan Times