News: Subhash Chowk Phantom Jams: Jaywalking, Autos Blamed-29-05-2026
Traffic at Subhash Chowk on Sohna Road often slows to a crawl not because of vehicle numbers but because of jaywalking and auto rickshaws encroaching on the main road, commuters say. Traffic police estimate that the junction handles nearly one-fourth of the daily traffic moving from Sohna to Gurugram.
Such phantom jams arise when free-flowing traffic is disrupted and the effect ripples backwards. A spot check on May 28 found pedestrians and drivers flouting rules, including wrong-side driving and illegal parking. Pedestrians ran across during green signals, forcing vehicles to brake. The junction has several dedicated crossings, but many people take short cuts, and some complain that faded zebra crossings are hard to see.
Ahsas Taluja, who passes through on his way to the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), said queues often build because encroachment narrows the road. Another commuter, Rohit Verma, said e-rickshaws halt so close to buses that passengers have no room to get off.
A senior Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) official, requesting anonymity, said repeated letters to civic bodies have not resolved the problem and drivers are forced to stop at undesignated points.
A traffic police official at the intersection told HT that no major congestion has been reported and that jaywalking and illegal parking are dealt with through frequent challaning drives. Officials said auto drivers have been sensitised but "a behavioural change is missing". Another senior traffic official said the carriageway is overburdened because public transport mostly avoids the underpass, and that traffic bound for the nearby HUDA city centre metro station pushes autos to queue on service lanes. He suggested dedicated parking and pick/drop zones in long-term planning.
The road falls under the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Official figures estimate nearly 20,000 vehicles a day use the junction to reach the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway from intersections such as Hero Honda, Bhaktawar and Rajiv Chowk. A senior NHAI official said long-term plans include widening the distance between entry and exit points and expanding service lanes.
