New Barapullah Flyover Sees Heavy Day-One Traffic Jams in Delhi

Commuters on the newly opened Barapullah Phase-III elevated corridor faced heavy traffic jams on Wednesday, with queues stretching up to 3.5 kilometres a day after its inauguration. Drivers reported waiting 40 to 60 minutes on the route, which was opened to cut travel time between Mayur Vihar and south Delhi to about 15 minutes.

Traffic Bottlenecks

Delhi traffic police estimated that five to six lakh vehicles converged on the new path, overwhelming the road network at its exit. The morning gridlock began around 9.30 a.m. and the peak on the corridor lasted until about 1.30 p.m. Police said thousands of cars shifted from NH-24 and the Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway onto the new flyover after learning it could reduce travel time to AIIMS.

Police Action

South Delhi traffic Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Gupta stated that Google Maps directed drivers toward the corridor without showing the growing congestion, creating a sudden traffic buildup. Police deployed around 10 to 12 personnel on both the Lajpat Nagar and Mayur Vihar sides to regulate vehicles manually. Authorities temporarily blocked the Mayur Vihar entry point with barricades and diverted traffic toward NH-24 when queues hit 3.5 kilometres.

Design Issues

Officials noted that the road geometry worsened the problem because the new six-lane corridor feeds into the existing two-lane Barapullah Phase-II stretch. This merges seven to eight lanes of traffic into a narrow bottleneck. Police also contacted Google to add live traffic layering for the route. Meanwhile, the other side of the flyover remained closed on Wednesday because the Public Works Department had not yet removed tents and inauguration gear, though it is set to open on Thursday.

Context

Urban road infrastructure projects often face initial congestion when new high-capacity routes open, as drivers rush to test shorter paths before traffic patterns naturally balance out. The Barapullah project is part of a larger set of regional road developments intended to ease cross-river travel between east and south Delhi. Traffic planning around major urban flyovers frequently requires coordination between civic authorities and mapping services to manage sudden shifts in commuter volume.