PWD seeks suggestions to decongest Press Enclave Marg in Delhi

The Public Works Department (PWD) has written to the traffic police and transport department and sought suggestions to decongest the perennially clogged Press Enclave Marg at Saket in south Delhi, officials aware of the matter said on Saturday. Some solutions being considered include shifting the central verge at the Mandir Marg intersection in order to clear space for cars, and making the entire stretch signal-free, they said.
The 3.7km stretch, which runs between Sri Aurobindo Marg on the west, and Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg on the east, has always been riddled with traffic woes even on weekends due to the presence of three large shopping malls – Metropolitan Mall, Select CityWalk and DLF Avenue Saket – and a large hospital, but has become even more troublesome for motorists in recent weeks due to waterlogging and illegal encroachment.
One of the options proposed by PWD is to shift the central verge at the Mandir Marg intersection to allow more carriageway space for movement of vehicles.
“There are multiple challenges in decongesting the entire stretch, which includes permanent encroachment, wide central verge, unauthorised parking and existing drains. For now, beginning with one side, we have proposed shifting the central verge near Mandir Marg so that the intersection becomes larger and gets more space. We are waiting for a response,” said a PWD official requesting anonymity.
PWD has earlier identified the Mandir Marg intersection as the point of major congestion where to make more space the signal would be replaced with U-turns on both sides and the central verge will be made narrower. The traffic light has Max Hospital on one side and the three malls on the other side.
Another solution includes removing all three traffic lights on the entire road to make it a signal-free stretch. The three traffic lights are at the intersection of Pramod Mahajan Marg, Mandir Marg and Shaheed Pankaj Bal Marg. However, the move requires approval from the traffic police and senior department officials.
After the G20 Summit, the Delhi government in September last year decided to redesign and improve all major stretches across the city, starting with the Press Enclave Marg. A survey of the stretch showed that the road sees a very high volume of peak-hour traffic, mainly due to unauthorised parking and encroachment. Peak-hour traffic on Press Enclave Marg is around 9,000 passenger car units (PCUs) in the morning and 10,000 PCUs in the evening, officials said.
Unlike other stretches, the traffic volume is high even during weekends due to the presence of malls, they added.
Nearly a year since the plan was made, no changes have been made on the ground. PWD minister Atishi visited the stretch in September last year and said that all 1,400km of roads under PWD would be taken up for redesigning soon.
Residents, meanwhile, said that while there has been no improvement, the situation has only worsened with increased encroachment and poor drainage, leading to persistent waterlogging in the past couple of months.
“The encroachment along the road is increasing here. Squatters have occupied footpaths and even built shanties, but no action has been taken against them. We had a terrible experience in the past two months as the area recorded waterlogging every time it rained, as the drains have not been cleaned properly. As soon as downpour lashed the area, some of the houses in the low-lying areas adjacent to the road got inundated,” said Ajay Jasra, president of the Press Enclave Society resident welfare association.
HT reached out to the transport department and traffic police personnel, but did not get any response to requests for comments.