Udyog Vihar Diversion Shifts Jam Inside Business District

GURUGRAM: A traffic intervention near Shankar Road has eased one movement only to load the pressure deeper inside Udyog Vihar, where office cabs, private cars, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles now converge at already constrained junctions. The morning bottleneck is most severe across phases 2 to 5, with commuters reporting that the final few kilometres can take longer than the expressway approach.

The direct right turn towards Phase 3 from the Shankar Road side has been closed. A driver arriving from Shankar Chowk must continue to the next signal, move towards Phase 4 or find a U-turn before doubling back. That altered path pushes several traffic streams into the same intersection between about 8.30am and 11am, precisely when offices and industrial units receive their largest wave of arrivals.

On a road network with generous usable width, a longer loop may have been absorbed. Udyog Vihar has little spare capacity. Cars are routinely parked along carriageways because many plots do not hold enough employee and visitor parking. Cabs pause for pick-ups and drops, delivery vehicles need wider turning space, and informal stopping at corners reduces the room available for vehicles trying to change lanes.

The result is not a neat queue but a series of small conflicts. Drivers approaching the signal cut across lanes to reach a U-turn. Others travel against the flow to avoid the loop. Heavy vehicles take longer to turn around roadside parking, while oncoming traffic brakes or swerves. A diversion designed to make movement predictable is therefore encouraging precisely the improvised manoeuvres that make a junction unstable.

The last mile has become the longest

People working in Phase 3 say the stretch from the Ambience Mall side to their offices can now consume 25 to 30 minutes during the peak. The delay is felt beyond employees behind a steering wheel. Shuttle schedules slip, app-cab fares climb with waiting time, deliveries miss slots and companies with rigid entry windows see staff arrive stressed before the workday has properly begun.

Walking is not a dependable escape. Continuous footpaths are missing on several internal roads, and the space that remains may be pinched by landscaping, fencing, parked vehicles or utility work. Employees emerging from cabs often have to walk beside moving traffic. When vehicles begin using the wrong side, even the direction from which danger approaches becomes difficult for a pedestrian to judge.

Traffic personnel have been deployed at key points, and officials say attention is shifting from Shankar Chowk to the congestion inside Udyog Vihar. Deployment can clear a blocked junction, but it does not resolve the parking deficit or create a safe kerb for thousands of daily pick-ups. Reopening the old turn without studying the original conflict would also risk simply returning the jam to Shankar Road.

A workable reset needs timed traffic counts at each affected junction, a review of the right-turn closure during the morning peak, strict no-parking zones close to signals and marked pick-up bays away from moving lanes. The city must also restore walkable edges. Udyog Vihar is one of Gurugram's oldest employment districts; treating its internal streets as leftover space ensures every new diversion will move congestion around rather than remove it.