GURUGRAM: The trial run for a left turn towards Dwarka through a dedicated lane on NH-8 right after the Sirhaul border will begin on Saturday evening.Delhi traffic police and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will oversee the trial that is expected to help unclog the expressway at the border during rush hour.ACP Manish Jorwal of Delhi traffic police said this will benefit daily commuters who live in Dwarka or West Delhi and work in Gurugram.There is a daily bottleneck on the service road in front of Satbir Petrol Pump ahead of Rajokri flyover, where commuters heading for Dwarka take the service road to head towards the Dwarka link road. This is made worse by vehicles entering and exiting the petrol pump and an air filling station next door, as well as traffic from Kapashera merging with NH-8. “Six lanes merge into 1-2 lanes here, causing the bottleneck. The direct left-turn will reduce reliance on the service road, and make the flow of traffic smoother,” Jorwal said, adding that from Saturday, all six lanes on the left of the e-way will turn left. According to rough estimates, almost half the office-hour traffic from Gurugram takes the link road towards West Delhi and Dwarka.For starters, traffic cops will erect six signboards to direct commuters to the left turn. They see training commuters not to stop at the service road as their only challenge. “We don’t expect any glitches, and once the trial succeeds, it will be made permanent,” officials said.Gurugram traffic officials were also happy, saying as traffic flow at Satbir Petrol Pump reduces, tailbacks leading up to the expressway will reduce. While the traffic situation has improved at the Gurugram-Delhi border after NHAI recently introduced lane diversions at the Sirhaul toll area, city police said the changes are still on trial. Senior Gurugram traffic police officials said NHAI continues to stall making the diversions permanent, which has increased its reliance on makeshift signages and barricades, which are often displaced in the wind.“We’ve installed flex boards, but we’d prefer permanent overhead gantry signages which are visible from distance,” said an official. A temporary LED screen has also been installed to point directions at the point of diversion, but commuters also complained of the jersey barriers at the diversions, calling them insufficient.While there were initial glitches, officials said the number of distress calls and tweets from Sirhaul have fallen by half. “Initially, communicating the changes — which were many and complex — was an issue. But they have now become routine for daily commuters,” said the official. Recently, at the intervention of NHAI, the channel for commercial vehicles was reduced by two lanes, which further eased up NH-8 traffic at Sirhaul. NHAI though has not given a deadline when it will declare the changes permanent. “NHAI should now evaluate if the situation has improved. Either they should suspend the trial, or make it permanent,” the traffic official added. NHAI officials couldn’t be contacted for comment.

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