Space Constraints Force Delhi to Drop Madhuban Chowk Parking and Other Traffic Plans
More than six months after identifying 62 major traffic congestion hotspots across the capital, Delhi authorities have shelved over a quarter of their proposed traffic-easing interventions due to severe space constraints. Among the dropped projects is a planned multilevel parking facility near Rohini Court at Madhuban Chowk, which was intended to resolve severe local bottlenecks.
The traffic-easing roadmap was jointly drafted by the Delhi Traffic Police, Public Works Department (PWD), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), and the Delhi transport department. The agencies originally proposed 215 short-, medium-, and long-term interventions, but 56 of these measures have now been marked "not feasible" or dropped entirely.
In Rohini, heavy congestion between Kohat and Madhuban Chowk is largely driven by visitors to the Rohini Court. While officials had planned to ease this bottleneck by constructing a multilevel parking facility, physical space constraints ultimately killed the project.
According to officials, many of the 56 dropped proposals across Delhi clashed with ongoing Metro and civic projects or faced insurmountable physical barriers, such as narrow carriageways, dense development, and a lack of available land. While some plans were shelved, work has been completed at 34 locations, and 96 interventions overall have been completed or incorporated into regular enforcement and maintenance phases. Sixty-three proposals remain pending.
Other major dropped projects include a proposed pedestrian subway at Bhavbhuti Marg outside the New Delhi Railway Station, which was cancelled due to conflicts with ongoing railway station redevelopment. A proposed flyover on Boulevard Road, linking Tis Hazari courts to Kashmere Gate, was also rejected due to limited road width and complex junction geometry. In south Delhi, a road widening project near Max Hospital was stopped due to a lack of land.
Where physical engineering solutions have proved impossible, authorities are turning to increased enforcement. Additional CP (traffic) Dinesh Kumar Gupta stated that the department has intensified monitoring and enforcement at locations constrained by Metro projects or land availability.
As part of these efforts, extra personnel have been deployed at key stretches, including Vikas Marg, ISBT Anand Vihar, and Sardar Patel Marg. Traffic police conducted 2,745 joint enforcement drives and issued over 5.35 lakh challans at the 62 identified hotspots up to May 31 this year.
