Why traffic in Delhi grinds to a halt come rain
The lunch-time discussion in our office on days after it rains heavily is about how time it took to reach home the previous evening. Most end up taking double or more than the usual time; and they did so when the city received a mere 20mm of rains for nine hours on Monday, July 31.
During the hot summer months, newspapers are replete with articles on cleaning of drains to prevent waterlogging. However, this year we also heard that the principal secretary of Public Works Department (PWD) of the Delhi government was roasted in the legislative Assembly for misleading reports on desilting. Based on their experiences of the past few weeks, most citizens of Delhi will agree that the efforts of the PWD were woefully inadequate - as every year.
What causes hell to break loose on Delhi’s roads when it rains?
Waterlogging remains a prime cause. A three-year study by IIT-Delhi to develop the drainage master plan found that:
i) There are over 3,700 km of stormwater drains - 90 per cent of them engineered.
ii) There are 536 waterlogging hotspots as reported by the Delhi Traffic Police of which 65 are critical.
iii) There are 10 agencies responsible for managing stormwater drains with six directly responsible for managing the hotspots.
While recommendations for construction of additional stormwater drains are not clear from the study’s report, it does suggest that these drains be clear of encroachments and desilted regularly. We know that while this is common sense, it isn’t in practice.
The study also informs that Delhi’s drainage master plan was last prepared in 1976; the territory has since grown, its population has tripled and the number of vehicles grown manifolds.
When it rains, water overflows the drains, accumulating on parts of roads which are lower than those surrounding it. Rainwater also get collected in underpasses and at the ends of flyovers due to inadequate drainage mechanisms. At many places, accumulation can be as much as knee-deep.
Waterlogging on roads has many unintended (or should we say intended) impacts - the available road width narrows considerably as vehicles avoid the flooded areas for fear of potholes and stalling due to water seepage in cars. The latter does happen frequently and stalled vehicles create bottlenecks reducing precious usable space on the roads even further. A report in one of the newspapers suggested that the vehicular speed reduced to 10 kmph for two hours when it rained on Monday evening.
The damage to stalled vehicles could sometimes be severe requiring it to be towed to a garage and replacement of parts. Thus, inefficient management of rainwater on the roads by public authorities, forces some citizens to incur expenses that they would not in the normal course.
But waterlogging isn’t the only cause that causes hellish conditions on the roads when it rains in Delhi. A few drops of rains is enough for the traffic lights to go kaput. The traffic police then assume responsibility of the rather difficult job of managing the crossings; but first they must get there. In the meanwhile, a jam ensues as everyone wants to cross first. The best efforts of the traffic police are, however, not a patch when compared with the synchronised- and time-controlled traffic lights that allow vehicles to pass quickly.
But during rains, the traffic just keeps growing at the manually managed crossings taking much more time than usual to clear.
Jammed crossings and slow traffic during or in the aftermath of rains almost halts public transport. As commuters wait for buses and auto-rickshaws, they crowd the bus stops and the road, again reducing usable space and creating a bottleneck.
Jammed crossings also make drivers take the parallel or service lanes to reach their destination quickly causing another jam on a clear road on which the traffic is moving in the opposite direction. This not only causes delays, but also reflects poorly on the civic sense of many of our fellow citizens.
Rains cause two-wheeler riders to take cover under flyovers or over-ground Metro lines. Like waterlogging, the parked crowd of commuters too reduces the usable road stretch. Further, at many places rain causes trash dumped on the roadside to flow on the road to the same effect.
Rains reduce visibility. The situation is further compounded by fogging of windscreen due to the full-blast air-conditioning in the cars. In this situation, driving is cautious and at much lower speed than normal. This means more time on the road; and with almost everyone driving slowly, more vehicles on the road than usual.
Rains in Delhi adversely impacts all commuters – there are delays to work and to school; wet and uncomfortable uniforms and dresses, there is also the dangers of accidents or falls in potholes and uncovered drains. Commuters on the road - already irritated by delays, find themselves in danger of low fuel due to the constantly running air-conditioners inside cars.
Google maps – the most useful gift for a commuter also falls short at times, providing inaccurate information on roads and time to reach their destination at the earliest.
Even worse, the low temperature requires commuters to take pee breaks, which they can’t, and as we all know there isn’t a bigger hell on earth if we can't relieve ourselves quickly!
Surely there can be a way out. Delhi’s elected representatives – even from opposing political camps - can work together. They can jointly set up a task force mandated to remove waterlogging completely from the identified 536 hotspots on mission mode so that Delhi has clear roads during the monsoons of 2018 and thereafter.
This task force could be provided with the required budget, and vested with the authority to plan and implement anti-waterlogging interventions. Google maps can work with this task force and citizens to develop and update a waterlogging map of Delhi. Interventions of this task force may include not just clearing drains off obstructions, but also deepening, widening or extending them to prevent overflows; filing up of depressions on the roads where water accumulates; and augmenting traffic lights especially at the hotspots with batteries and insulating them appropriately to allow them to function when it rains.
The task force can draw professionals from the Public Works Department, municipal corporations and engineering colleges who can provide many more relevant suggestions so that the commuters do not have to dread the Delhi roads every time it rains.