Barapullah Flyover Jam: Police Ask PWD To Redesign Sundial Merger, Minister Blames AAP

The newly opened Barapullah Phase-III flyover has run into a traffic bottleneck within days of being opened, prompting the Delhi Traffic Police to ask the Public Works Department (PWD) to redesign a key merger point near Sundial Park. According to traffic officials, the way the new stretch connects with the existing Barapullah corridor is creating congestion instead of improving traffic flow. The Phase-III corridor was intended to strengthen connectivity between south Delhi and areas towards Mayur Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan while reducing pressure on other major roads.

Minister Blames AAP

Addressing a press conference on the Barapullah Phase-III flyover row, Minister Pravesh Verma accused the Aam Aadmi Party and other Opposition leaders of “making a lot of noise” over alleged design flaws after heavy congestion was seen in the area the day after the inauguration. While acknowledging that the traffic build-up was a concern for the government too, he said the project began in 2015 and its design, including the number of lanes, was approved during the AAP government’s tenure.

Calling AAP “an expert at proving lies as truth,” Verma questioned why a flyover over the Yamuna, where there was “no space constraint,” was designed with only two lanes on each side, when the DND Flyway on one side and the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on the other are both twice as wide. He also asked whether Rs 1,000 crore of public money was being spent in 2015 for a structure meant to last only two years, saying such projects are planned for the next 50 to 100 years on the basis of traffic studies. According to him, the consultant designed the flyover to the size the government specified.

Delhi: On the Barapullah Phase-3 row, Minister Pravesh Verma says, “Was the Delhi government spending Rs 1,000 crore of public money in 2015 to build it only for two years? Today, whenever you build any building or any flyover, you build it keeping the next 50 to 100 years in mind. There is a traffic study to assess how much traffic and population there are in 2015, and after 10 years, this will double, and after 20 years, it will double even further. Accordingly, you decide its size. But when the government told the consultant that it had to be built to this particular size, the consultant designed it accordingly…”

— IANS (@ians_india) October 7, 2026

Hour-Long Traffic Crawl

The traffic disruption became evident soon after the flyover was opened. Officials said commuters travelling along the nearly 8-km stretch between Safdarjung Hospital and Sarai Kale Khan were taking more than an hour to complete the journey by Thursday evening, as per reports.

The congestion has been particularly pronounced around the point where the new corridor joins the existing Barapullah system near Sundial Park.

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Inspection Finds Bottleneck

A joint inspection involving senior officials from the Delhi Traffic Police and the PWD was conducted on October 1 to assess the problem.

The inspection identified several issues linked to the geometry of the junction and the movement of vehicles through the merger point. The traffic police subsequently wrote to the PWD, pointing out that the existing configuration was causing “significant traffic congestion”.

Officials attributed the problem in part to the exceptionally high volume of vehicles using the newly opened corridor.

Nine Lanes Converge

A drone survey conducted by the traffic police provided a clearer picture of how traffic streams are converging at the junction.

The Phase-III flyover itself has three lanes. At the merger point, another three lanes carrying vehicles from the Sundial side towards Sarai Kale Khan and Ring Road join the corridor.

Three additional lanes carrying traffic from the Ashram and DND side also feed into the existing Barapullah corridor.

The problem is that the existing flyover reduces to just two lanes at this point. Traffic police officials said the sudden reduction in available road capacity creates a mismatch between the number of lanes bringing vehicles into the junction and the space available for them to proceed.

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Sharp Alignment Adds To Jam

The lane mismatch is compounded by the physical design of the merger, according to the traffic police. Rather than connecting through a smooth curve, the new flyover meets the existing stretch near Sundial through a relatively sharp or rectangular alignment. Officials said this forces traffic streams to merge abruptly and contributes to the bottleneck.

With vehicles arriving from several directions, the constrained section can slow down traffic and create recurring choke points, particularly given the large volume of traffic now using Phase-III.

PWD Asked For Redesign

The traffic police have called for an engineering solution to the problem rather than relying solely on traffic personnel and enforcement measures.

The department has asked the PWD to examine and redesign the Sundial merger so that the additional road capacity provided by Phase-III can translate into smoother movement.

The intervention is aimed at addressing the point where the new and existing Barapullah corridors meet, with officials seeking corrective engineering measures to prevent congestion from simply shifting to the merger point.