Welcome to the maze called NH-9

GHAZIABAD: “I know this road so well, I can tell you where the next pothole is,” jokes Alok. An Indirapuram resident for the past seven years, the 38-year-old drives to Delhi, where his office is, every day. Yet last Friday, while returning from a late shift, he almost drove his car into a barricade on NH-9, a few hundred metres before the Noida Sector 62 crossing.It was dark and he saw the diversion late. There was no ‘diversion ahead’ warning.
An Uber driver who does the Noida-Ghaziabad-Delhi circuit every day learnt the hard way that he could not trust his GPS on NH-9 like he does everywhere else. He likes the GPS because it gives him the shortest route. But recently, while taking passengers to Noida from Vaishali, the GPS pointed to an exit that brought him to a dead end. There was a mound of earth ahead. He said his passengers had warned him but he had insisted on following the map. Now, he just takes the advice because the highway is a maze.
Changes are happening almost every day on NH-9, or Delhi-Meerut expressway, as the road gets widened and upgraded from UP Gate till the Dasna toll plaza and work picks up pace. The result is diversions, detours and closed turns, which are necessary because traffic cannot be stopped while the highway is being upgraded. But the complete absence of helping hands for traffic has drivers at a loss as to which way to turn. For instance, the original right turn into Noida from the highway, towards Labour Chowk, as one drives from Delhi is closed. A U-turn has been created a little further, but with no clear markers or personnel directing traffic, motorists have been left to figure it out on their own. It’s the same for the new exits created on the Indirapuram side.
The GPS can’t keep pace with the changes, and unless one is familiar with the terrain, a motorist could easily miss an exit and end up taking a long detour, or worse, driving on the wrong side like many already do. This has led to the possibility of an accident shooting up.
Regular commuters pointed out that when the Delhi portion of the highway — between Sarai Kale Khan and UP Gate — was being upgraded, similar diversions had to be made, but there were always a couple of traffic personnel posted at the diversions. This was very helpful, particularly at night, because traffic did not go stray.
But as the construction machinery has moved into UP, the same standards are apparently not needed.
Currently, between Kala Patthar in Indirapuram and Pratap Vihar, where the highway upgrade work is on in full swing, motorists have to negotiate about six diversions. The central verge is almost entirely dug up but not uniformly barricaded, so if motorists are not careful, they could slip into it.
“The diversions are mostly marked with fluorescent strips, which during the daytime are useless and if you are not cautious enough, chances are there you might veer into the muddy track,” said Abhishek Singh, a commuter. At night, there isn’t enough light for these strips to glow, unless a strong headlight beam falls favourably on them.
Mohan Mohanty, another commuter, points to another major problem caused by the lack of police oversight — autos and bikes diving between diversions and driving on the wrong side almost across the entire stretch, making driving difficult and often holding up traffic. “At Chajarsi cut, chances of a head-on collision are high,” he says.
The NHAI, which is in charge of the project, is aware of these problems but isn’t promising any solutions, pointing out instead that work will be completed in four months. “This is a transition phase. We could possibly close down the stretch, nor could we stop work. Both have to go on simultaneously,” said Mudit Mudgal, project engineer with NHAI. “We have done all we could do under the circumstances… at times, even workers are stationed at seemingly troublesome spots to manage traffic but it cannot be done at all times of the day.”