All nine underpasses in Gurugram city will now have a uniform speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour (km/hour), including three that are located on the expressway, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) officials said, adding that the limit was fixed in consultation with the traffic police.To ensure that vehicles adhere to the new speed limit, rumble strips will be installed at the entry of underpasses as a speed calming measure, said GMDA officials, adding that the need for a speed limit was felt after several fatal accidents. All underpasses of the city are maintained by the GMDA, said officials.
According to Gurugram traffic police, at least 117 deaths have taken place on the highway stretch running through Gurugram in 2022, 91 in 2021, 124 in 2020 and 75 so far this year.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had enforced a speed limit of 30km/hour on underpasses coming under it, while the GMDA had earlier put a speed limit of 50km/hour on underpasses managed by it. The lack of coordination between the two departments was causing confusion after which GMDA changed the speed limit of nine underpasses to ensure uniformity, said officials.
GMDA officials said signboards of 30km/hour speed limit have been installed along the Rajiv Chowk underpass and the Hero Honda Chowk underpass on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway.
Officials said speed cameras have already been installed at the three underpasses on Golf Course Road and tenders will be floated for the rest soon. Also, GMDA may seek help from companies through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for installing speed cameras, said officials.
Last year in August, a team from IIT-Madras and the Gurugram traffic police had launched a study of Golf Course Road to analyse the accident data, structure, traffic pattern and reasons behind accidents. The analysis had helped police to arrive at an optimum speed limit for the road so that the traffic flow remains smooth while at the same time reducing accidents, said officials.
Police said last year to reduce the number of accidents, the traffic police and the district road safety committee had set speed limits on major roads and started auditing all internal stretches in Gurugram to finalise speed limits for such roads as well. Accordingly, the speed limit for cars on highways was set at 90km/hour and for two-wheelers and heavy vehicles at 50km/hour.
On major municipal roads, the limit is 50km/hour for cars and two-wheelers, and 30km/hour for heavy vehicles.
On state highways, it is 80km/hour for cars, and 50km/hour for two-wheelers and heavy vehicles.
Police said currently, there are no speed limits set for arterial roads and local stretches and these will also be fixed by the end of the year.
Col RD Singhal (rtd), chief general manager mobility, GMDA, said rumble strips have been installed at all nine underpasses to enhance road safety and keep a check on speeding. “A speed limit of 30km/hour has been set for vehicular movement in underpasses by NHAI. Various signboards have also been installed by them. The speed limit has also been outlined by GMDA near the rumble strips. GMDA will also install speed cameras in the underpasses to monitor the speed of vehicles,” he said.
Each set of rumble strips has three parts — a series of six continuous strips, followed by 10 strips, and then another six –all located within a short distance of each other.
PC Meena, chief executive officer (CEO) of GMDA, said unlike speed breakers, rumble strips reduce the speed of vehicles in such a manner that there is no traffic build-up that will cause snarls. “By placing rumble strips at short intervals, vehicles cannot speed, and thus the chances of accidents also reduce significantly,” he said.Rajkumar Rao, road safety officer of Gurugram, said speed limits are needed at underpasses as many people have lost their lives due to accidents at these structures. “From now, speeding and will lead to penalties and police action, which will act as a deterrent,” he said.