After drastically faltering in the execution of Dhaula Kuan Grade Separator, Public Works Department of Delhi government is now busy brainstorming on another plan, which is definitely a recipe to disaster on the Ring Road. This time the PWD wants to make bus bays on the Ring Road right below the loop that connects SP Marg with NH8. According to experts, “It’s an open invitation for accident black spot and is totally illegal as it defies all the norms set up by the Indian Roads Congress.”

According to IRC regulation, there should be a weave length of minimum 220 feet between two points where traffic flow is inter-weaves. And the place where PWD wants to make bus bays on the Ring Road at Dhaula Kuan lies right in the middle of this stretch.

According to sources in the Public Works Department, “The PWD officials approached Architect’s Bureau, the company which planned and designed the Dhaula Kuan Grade Separator to make a design for the construction of bus bays on both carriageways of the Ring Road below the main flyover which connects NH8 to SP Marg. However, the planners at Architect’s Bureau refused to do so snubbing the plan and terming it as totally disastrous and technically not feasible.”

Since Architect’s Bureau “officially” refused to carry on the PWD diktat, the department officials again approached them asking to design the bus bays and hand over the design to them “unofficially” so that they could carry on with the construction. Again the officials got a snubbing.

However, when TODAY contacted Architect’s Bureau to enquire about the incident, the officials remained tight-lipped about the incident. According to the PWD source, “It is a blunder which the department is bent on committing. Their only justification for making bus bays at that spot is that it will be convenient for pedestrians.”

PWD wants staircases for pedestrians to come down on both carriageways from the main flyover, which connects NH8 to SP Marg as a pedestrian’s path is already in place on this bridge. It will be convenient for pedestrian movement there.

However the planners at Architect’s Bureau contend that if bus bays are constructed at that spot, it will become an accident black spot as traffic flow is inter-weaving here and criss-crosses at this spot. Making a bus stop here will only lead to accidents on both sides of carriageways as well as congestion on the carriageway. Moreover, it is in gross violation of the IRC regulations.

A traffic police official termed the PWD’s noble plan of constructing bus bays for pedestrian’s convenience as “whimsical” adding, “Had the PWD executed the construction of the Dhaula Kuan Grade Separator according to the original design and plan, this problem wouldn’t have arisen altogether.”