'Delhi traffic congestion down by nearly one-third in three months'

India, June 30 -- Traffic congestion across Delhi's key bottlenecks has dropped by nearly one-third over the past three months following a series of enforcement and infrastructure measures, officials said on Monday. Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu reviewed measures against traffic congestion and directed police to aggressively expand AI-based and digital traffic management systems. Sandhu chaired a high-level review meeting with Commissioner of Police Satish Golchha and senior traffic police officers to assess the implementation of directives issued during his visit to the Delhi Traffic Police headquarters at Todapur on April 2. Also Read - SIR of voter list kicks off in Delhi; CM Rekha Gupta calls it 'yajna of democracy' The average congestion length in the city - tracked through Google Maps at 15-minute intervals - reduced to 32.43 km between April and June 25, compared to 48.25 km during January-March. The improvement has been attributed to increased visibility of traffic police personnel on roads, foot patrolling, engineering interventions and technology-driven enforcement measures, officials said. Month-on-month congestion reduced across 34 of the 62 priority traffic hotspots identified by Delhi Traffic Police under its citizen-centric "Project Sangam" initiative. Among the most significant improvements, traffic snarls at Pushta Road in Kailash Nagar reduced by 82.59 per cent, while Khajuri Chowk recorded a 74.29 per cent drop. The Teen Murti roundabout also saw traffic flow improve by 66.01 per cent. Also Read - SIR of Delhi's voter list begins today; 13,000 BLOs deployed However, congestion worsened at four identified hotspots due to road construction and other factors. These included Naraina Flyover, where congestion rose by 1.28 per cent; South Extension Part-I by 7.55 per cent; Max Hospital, Saket by 14.93 per cent; and Bhavbhuti Marg, where traffic congestion surged by 349.87 per cent. Officials also flagged Dwarka Mor, Sarai Kale Khan, Mukarba Chowk and Dabri Gol Chakkar as persistent bottlenecks requiring urgent infrastructural and operational interventions. The L-G was informed that joint surveys and regular coordination meetings with civic agencies such as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Public Works Department (PWD), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have been initiated to clear encroachments and streamline traffic movement. Also Read - MCD to begin survey of 923 coaching centres from July 1 During the meeting, Sandhu stressed the need to scale up artificial intelligence-based and digital enforcement systems for round-the-clock monitoring of traffic violations and better congestion management. He said traffic snarls not only lead to wastage of time and fuel but also significantly add to pollution levels in the city. Calling seamless mobility critical for Delhi's competitiveness and its emergence as a global destination for investment and tourism, the L-G assured full administrative support to Delhi Traffic Police and said he would personally visit several of the identified hotspots to review improvements on the ground, officials said.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.