Signature Bridge mishaps: Delhi govt, cops scramble to curb speed, crashes

NEW DELHI: After accidents on two consecutive days claimed three lives on the newly opened Signature Bridge, the traffic police has proposed some immediate changes, including widening of the approach roads and installation of speed calming measures at the loops leading to the bridge. The cops will also fix a speed limit for vehicles travelling on the bridge.More than 2,000 people have been booked for various traffic offences since the inauguration of the bridge on November 5.
A worried chief minister also took to Twitter to ask youth to be careful when photographing themselves on the architecturally eye-catching bridge. “I am worried over the accidents on Signature Bridge,” Arvind Kejriwal tweeted. “Signature Bridge is the pride of Delhi. I appeal to all, especially the youth, to remain alert while clicking selfies on Signature Bridge and also refrain from speed driving. Your life is very valuable for the country and your family.”
Alok Kumar, joint commissioner (traffic), said on Friday that as an immediate measure to curb rule violations, 16 traffic police personnel will be posted at the bridge. “We will have eight men posted on the bridge and at the approach road from the Khajuri Chowk side in the morning and eight at night,” said Kumar. “We have also realised that speed calming measures are urgently needed.”
Police have already written letters regarding this to Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation on November 13 and on the need to install signage and speed breakers on November 15. The cops propose that PWD should install speed calmers at the mouths of the loops to reduce average speed there to 30kmph.
Sources in DTTDC said that the decision on installing rumble strips has been taken and the contractor has been directed to have this done as soon as possible. When a vehicle passes over the rumble strips, tangible vibrations and audible rumblings alert the drivers to slow down because they are approaching a dangerous point on the road.
The speed on the bridge has been fixed at 60kmph for light vehicles and 40kmph for heavy carriers, but violations are common, mostly by motorcyclists and light car drivers.
A proposal has also been mooted to widen the Wazirabad Road by 6.5 metres on either side after a study of the traffic volume on the Signature Bridge revealed almost a 50% increase in the volume of vehicles on both sides of the bridge. Senior traffic officials had carried out a joint survey with the various stakeholders. During this multi-agency survey, it was noted that the volume of traffic appeared to have increased many times on the main Wazirabad Road going towards Bhopura border.
The survey also showed that there were back-to-back U-turns at B-Block in Yamuna Vihar on the main Wazirabad Road. This area, with its reduced road width due to the U-turns, is likely to turn into a traffic bottleneck due to the increase in vehicular volume after the opening of the bridge. An urgent need was thus felt to lessen the width of the central verge near the U-turn to enable additional road space for traffic movement.
Officials of Central Road Research Institute had also been requested to visit the spot and give an expert opinion on the bottleneck. Accordingly, after the spot inspection of the U-turn near Yamuna Vihar, it was decided that the width of the carriageway going towards Gokulpuri should be increased. The carriageway going towards Khajuri Chowk should similarly be increased by 2.5 metres near the U-turns to facilitate smoother flow of traffic.