[aditya101]

When I first drove on NH-8 some 6-7 years, there was no experience like it in NCR. Broad, fast and even road with majestic glass buildings on the sides. Swanky cars all around. Noida Toll Road in comparison was very short and rather expensive in comparison. By any yardstick Gurgaon's roads are quite wide and there are 2 National Highways connecting it to Delhi (Mehrauli Gurgaon Road is also accorded NH status) plus 2 metro networks.

After protests the much despised sirhaul toll plaza was removed yet there is a perennial mess? What is the reason? What is/can be done about it?

Thousands of office goers and other commuters were on Friday stranded in Gurugram as heavy rains led to water-logging on National Highway-8 causing massive traffic jams, forcing authorities to shut down schools in Delhi’s satellite city while some offices too declared it an off.

Many motorists abandoned their vehicles and waded through knee-deep water which accumulated on both the carriageways of Delhi-Jaipur road, including Hero Honda Chowk, bringing traffic to a standstill with the tailback extending up to 15-20 kilometre.

The chaos started on Thursday itself after heavy rains, led to water-logging near Hero Honda Chowk from 4 pm as the main drain overflowed. The NH-8, which is the main carriageway from Delhi to Jaipur, was choked with hundreds of trucks unable to move and the situation worsened as morning commuters too came on the road.

...

http://www.rediff.com/news/report/pi...y/20160729.htm

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Well, honestly it is just inadequate maintenance. I might be wrong and maybe too harsh on the municipal corporation or HUDA or whoever is responsible. But this city is a Gold mine considering the sort of revenue it generates and it deserves better maintenance. But the basic civic facilities are just not up to the mark.
I can accept that we might not have world class construction abilities or farsightedness to anticipate such problems, but why cant we take help? To top it off, Gurgaon is not an old city like Bombay which you cannot fix more than a certain degree now. Gurgaon is fairly new and most of the construction is either happening or happened recently but still the basic concept of drainage etc is just so poorly thought. Also since everywhere it is dust and garbage, when it rains, whatever drains exist, get blocked and there is just mayhem. I cant even believe that a city that generates so much revenue literally comes to its knees after anything more than a 15 min heavy rainfall.


Regards
Rachit

[aditya101]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

To top it off, Gurgaon is not an old city like Bombay which you cannot fix more than a certain degree now.

That is my biggest gripe with Gurgaon's issues. For years we simply accepted issues with one single explanation "population growth has far outstripped infrastructure" etc for our cities. That cannot be accepted for a city like Gurgaon which was practically constructed post-2000

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/53458206.cms

GURGAON: It was a jam that lasted so long and was so bad that it earned itself a unique name: Gurujam. For 20 hours, starting around 6 pm on Thursday, the Millennium City remained gridlocked, and waterlogged. And nobody really knows how much it rained in Gurgaon, because the city's only rain gauge was not working.

A Met reading from nearby Palam showed just 5.8mm of rain till Friday morning. It obviously rained more than that in Gurgoan but that alone could never have triggered this kind of an urban nightmare in a city that houses nearly half the Fortune 500 companies.

The situation was so bad that on Friday morning, Gurgaon police tweeted: "People coming to Gurgaon from Delhi are advised to stay back today to avoid being stuck in traffic jams due to flooding of roads."

Trouble started around 6 pm on Thursday, and as the jam built up over time, people were stuck on the road for four to eight hours. Some reached home after midnight, some even later. Some just abandoned their cars and walked back.

But things got worse as heavy commercial vehicles were trapped in the web of snarls. There was complete chaos on a 24km stretch of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway as hundreds of trucks and state transport buses were stranded on the highway due to water logging and traffic jams. A truck usually occupies space equal to three cars, therefore heavy vehicles on the road only worsened the situation. Cars which were left stranded by the owners who had walked home on Thursday, only added to the mess.

As dawn set in, news of waterlogged and choked streets poured in. Rajeev Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Golf Course Road, Badshahpur, Palam Vihar, Jharsa Chowk, Sushant Lok, Pataudi Road and Manesar were flooded with two to five feet of water resulting in heavy traffic jams. Spillovers spread till sectors 14, 15, 17 and 10, Khandsa Road, Sohna Road, Cyber City, Bristol Chowk, MG Road, Huda City Centre and Farrukhangar. Roads caved in near Hero Honda Chowk and on Golf Course Road which caused major snarls.
Haryana's civic agencies blamed Delhi for the mess. They said Delhi shut down the sluice gates of Najafgarh drain on Thursday evening. This led to the Badshahpur drain, which empties into Najafgarh drain, filling up to the brim. So, there was no way they could have pumped water into Badshahpur drain, which led to large-scale waterlogging.

Delhi, however, denied it shut the Najafgarh drain gates and said Haryana was trying to cover up its own follies.

The highway contractor Skylark Securitas Pvt Ltd, too, issued an advisory on Friday asking people to avoid NH8. A sense of normality was restored only around afternoon. "The toll authority waived the toll fee at the Kherki Daula plaza on Friday. This was done to decongest the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. It aimed at a continuous traffic movement as vehicles stopping at the toll plaza added to the tailbacks," said a highway official.

Subsequently, by 2pm, most of the city was jam-free though the heavy traffic slogged at certain areas for some time.

However, the Hero Honda Chowk became a point of concern for authorities. The cave-in of about five feet on the road was impossible to repair as it rained, plus, the water could not be drained out of this stretch. The jam continued and tailbacks were seen till Rajeev Chowk.

In fact, commissioner of police Navdeep Singh Virk pedalled to the Hero Honda Chowk via Rajeev Chowk and inspected the stretch. The traffic from Hero Honda Chowk and Sohna Road was diverted to Bhiwadi, Tawdu and Sohna.

"The cops will now be on round-the-clock duty to ensure there are no jams. The state administration has sent 250 home guards to Gurgaon. But we will advise people to not visit Gurgaon if it rains heavily again, and Hero Honda Chowk should be avoided for the next few days," said Virk

Only in India the suggestion will be to not visit the city

Why were people smarter and take metro instead?

[sudev]

Have a think. AND share if you agree.

Gurgaon Delhi traffic jams are not due to rain. They happen every day. Rain only caused them to become worse.

The main cause is impatience and indiscipline of drivers. Every one wants to get ahead of the queue! We see it at red lights, at junctions, at slip roads. People will jump the queue and then try to shoehorn in at the head. Slightest of slowdown and people will jump over medians to the otherwise promptly causing jam there also.

Rains only made it worse.

Gridlock happen due to lack of courtesy and lane discipline. Due to complete ignorance of "right of way" discipline.

Yesterday I traveled to and back from Jaipur. Going out I avoided jam on NH8 since I took Sohna road and then KMP ring to join NH8 after Manesar. Coming back there was a major tailback as police was diverting heavy traffic towards Rewari ring. Instead of patiently waiting in lanes almost all cars and busses jumped to oncoming lanes of NH8! Causing jams for traffic to Jaipur too! And sure enough on other side traffic going to Jaipur jumped into "other" side causing gridlock. I was slowly inching forward and was stuck for over two hours. Fuming at louts who did not even think once in jumping the queue and causing gridlock. And then they say traffic is a mess.

Finally policemen closed the highway lanes and directed the traffic on both sides to go on to service roads. Slowly the traffic gridlock was resolved. Funny thing is after this patch of two three kilometers there was no jam till Gurgaon.

Why can't we follow lane discipline ourselves?

Easy to point fingers but are you willing to follow discipline? Or is only for others.

NH8 gets tailbacked into Delhi because people who want to exit at Ambience mall do not make a single lane but try and come to head off lane and then in process create back up of traffic wanting to go straight. There is hardly any traffic problem after this choke point till iffco exit where this is repeated again..... And again at next and next exits.

Rain only made it worse.

[extreme_torque]

Moderator Warning: Do NOT TROLL. Do NOT post negative messages. Chill & keep the discussion objective.

[libranof1987]

My dad was stuck in the jam on his way back from work; he left UV at 1630 and made it to Hero Honda chowk in half an hour and that is where he got stuck for four hours!

Of course, given the utter lack of drainage in Gurgoan, there was massive water logging and it was about knee deep this time.

Water entered the cabin but luckily he could keep the engine running and made it home safe at 2300.

The stretch between HH chowk and Manesar toll is susceptible to awful water logging; even with a drizzle. I think they've placed those water sucking machine permanently.

Originally Posted by sudev

Have a think. AND share if you agree.

Gurgaon Delhi traffic jams are not due to rain. They happen every day. Rain only caused them to become worse.

The main cause is impatience and indiscipline of drivers. Every one wants to get ahead of the queue! We see it at red lights, at junctions, at slip roads. People will jump the queue and then try to shoehorn in at the head. Slightest of slowdown and people will jump over medians to the otherwise promptly causing jam there also.

Rains only made it worse.

Gridlock happen due to lack of courtesy and lane discipline. Due to complete ignorance of "right of way" discipline.

....

So true; this is so basic, so obvious and yet always conspicuous by its absence.

This is not just in Gurgaon but literally everywhere; I've seen it in Pune and Bangalore. What pricks the most is seeing seemingly educated people doing this. God forbid you make the mistake of asking someone to follow the rule, you'd worry about being shot. Let's be honest, as a society, we have very little sense towards community, it's more like "every man for himself". There'll probably be no consensus on "why so" but I'm unfortunately confident that there isn't any reason why it'll change. Those who have civic sense will continue to follow it; the rest will be blissfully indifferent.

[mayankk]

I dont think you will ever have a solution to the Gurgaon madness.
The natural drainages are gone, and will not be reclaimed. The man made ones are either fake, or blocked.
It employs lacs of corporate employees, who commute everyday, and owing to a lack of choice in public transport, it is by cars. For most. There is no place now for any roads to come up. The locals are a law unto themselves. The rules only apply to people from outside, the local guy will still go the wrong way to get onto the Eway.
I left gurgaon in 2013, and it has been good riddance. The town is close to implosion.

[poloman]

Calm down extreme torque. Things may not be as bad as you sounds. No city in this world can build a foolproof system which can safguard from fury of nature. Government can be blamed to some extent. But if the rain fall is excessive, no human intervention is going to help. You can google for some images of flooding in your adopted country whose population is equal to that of NCR. I can assure you, it won't look much different.
This is of course not Gurgaon
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201101/r699952_5354304.jpg

[FrozeninTime]

The problem in our cities is mainly due to greedy land Mafia and also part of problem lies with corporate. They are simply turning blind eye to mess they help create. I can't elaborate it clearly here but if corporates had put their foot down, the infrastructure would have been better. These BPO promoted taxi culture by giving free transport to their employees instead of putting pressure on Govt to have dedicated bus service. Also corporates should have disincentivised personal car use in their office buy promoting bus service.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by aditya101

After protests the much despised sirhaul toll plaza was removed yet there is a perennial mess? What is the reason? What is/can be done about it?

There is no toll for private vehicles, but toll exists for commercial vehicles entering Delhi (65 per trip for Taxis).

To cut discussions short the Commissioner accepts that things could have been handled better.

Anything from Bengaluru except for a one day closure called for by Siddharamaiah! He wants to rename B'lore as 'New Venice'.

[aditya101]

Travails of the Gurgaon commuter .... for ladies it is is a daily battle with fear and risk.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/gurgao...oz4QDMgiN.html

A majority of Gurgaon residents prefer to idle in hour-long snarls, as evinced by the increasing number of private vehicles, than fight for space in the city’s infamous public transport network.

A second look at the city’s public transport options may force one to take sides with the residents.

Gurgaon’s mass public transport system, comprising Haryana Roadways buses, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) yellow line and the Rapid Metro Rail, is no match for the city’s swelling population.

Residents say they would rather use the abundant private transport options than board a tattered Haryana Roadways bus or a suffocating metro train.
“The condition of the buses needs to be improved. The government cannot expect the people to leave private transport without fulfilling our demands. There is a lot of infrastructure work that needs to be undertaken in Gurgaon if we want to reduce snarls,” Rohit Raheja of South City 1 said.

[RocketRaccoon]

I was stuck in this mess from 10PM to 2AM on Sohna Road stretch opposite Omaxe mall. Usually it takes me 10 minutes to reach home in 56 from this location. It took me 4 hours ! It was an absolute mess. No traffic lights, cars coming through the wrong side, service lane and any which way they can. Today I went to a so called super market and they lacked basic inventory of milk, bread and veggies. Upon asking them they blamed the same traffic mess and described how their supply chain was completely disrupted by rainfall. 1 day of heavy rains and the city was literally bought down to its knees.

[Eddy]

I was fortunate enough to avoid the jams on both days. This is what I posted on facebook - my experience on Friday morning between 8 and 9.30 am.

In between all the mess in Gurgaon today, credit where it is due. NH8 from Delhi to Jaipur was a car park, but traffic was flowing freely on the other side. Someone somewhere had the prudence to keep some intersections traffic free and prevent us educated people from entering the wrong side of the road.
Kudos.....

[gupta_chd]

Originally Posted by FrozeninTime

The problem in our cities is mainly due to greedy land Mafia and also part of problem lies with corporate. They are simply turning blind eye to mess they help create. I can't elaborate it clearly here but if corporates had put their foot down, the infrastructure would have been better. These BPO promoted taxi culture by giving free transport to their employees instead of putting pressure on Govt to have dedicated bus service. Also corporates should have disincentivised personal car use in their office buy promoting bus service.

This is interesting view! Blame corporates why can't they pressurise government for public transport or public amenities.

Next why can't corporates build flyovers and other infrastructure if there is deficiency after all it is used by their employees as well.

I don't think you realize how much red tape they have to go through just to get necessary clearances and operate businesses even if it generates hundreds of jobs.

[FrozeninTime]

Originally Posted by gupta_chd

don't think you realize how much red tape they have to go through just to get necessary clearances and operate businesses even if it generates hundreds of jobs.

It has been fashion for so called educated class to blame every problem on Govt. My father was in Govt. and has dealt with so called job creating companies. According to him the problem is not with red tape but when you want to break the rule knowingly so as to have a favourable verdict for your company, case in point 2G case, Radia Tapes.
I will stick to my point that if corporates have guts they should shut shop like Tata had done in Singur till infrastructure is sorted and they should atleast arrange a bus service for their employees instead of Taxi .