The Traffic Paradox: More Flyovers Will Only Increase Congestion In Delhi, Not To Solve It

By TINA HARSH | INNLIVE

Instead of assuming more road infrastructure will reduce congestion, Delhi will be better off improving public transport and incentivising walking, cycling.

The Delhi government’s plan to construct a web of elevated roads – with two lanes for private vehicles that will have to pay a toll, and one lane for buses that will be exempt from the toll – needs to be rethought, because more roads will mean more traffic and hence more congestion.

Examples from the world over show that constructing highways or freeways and flyovers does not solve congestion along select routes and that the construction of high-capacity, limited-access roads as a means of managing automobile congestion in urban areas is doomed to failure.