Standstill for 30 mins: JD Vance visit triggers traffic block in Delhi-NCR

Traffic restrictions on triggers traffic chaos in Delhi-NCR for morning commuters

Office-goers and early morning commuters across Delhi-NCR were left frustrated on Monday as several key roads connecting Delhi with Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram witnessed massive traffic snarls. Despite prior traffic advisories, peak hour movement was thrown into disarray by a combination of road closures, security curbs, and an accident-related protest.

 

“Insane trafficnear Sector 62, Noida. Eight km stretch has been overloaded with traffic for more than 45 mins now at Delhi-Meerut NH,” a commuter posted on X. Another user wrote, “Very heavy traffic on Delhi Meerut Expressway on service road towards Delhi from Crossings/Vijay Nagar. Standstill for the last 30 minutes, haven’t moved an inch.”

 

Others shared screenshots of Google maps showing traffic congestions near Vasant Kunj, with commuters asking Delhi Traffic Police to send an official to help manage the traffic.

 

In Delhi, key stretches such as Dhaula Kuan, Vasant Kunj, Mahipalpur, Rajouri Garden, and Lajpat Nagar were heavily choked through the morning. Traffic updates indicated that even service roads were gridlocked in parts of Ghaziabad and Noida. 

 

Traffic restrictions issued amid JD Vance visit

The restrictions came as US Vice President JD Vance, along with his wife Usha and their three children, arrived in Delhi for a four-day visit. He landed at the Palam air base around 9.30 am and is scheduled to visit Akshardham Temple and other cultural landmarks in the capital. 

 

Adding to the morning mayhem was a blockade on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway at Chhijarsi cut in Ghaziabad, where the family of a woman who died in an early-morning accident placed her body on the road in protest. The blockade created a three-kilometre-long jam and compounded the already stretched traffic situation.

 

Commuters advised to avoid these routes in Delhi-NCR

Delhi Traffic Police, citing a ‘special event’, had earlier announced restrictions in three time bands—9 am to 11 am, 11 am to 2 pm, and 6 pm to 9 pm—advising commuters to avoid areas such as IP Marg, Vikas Marg, and MG Marg, and suggesting alternate routes like Vande Mataram Marg and Rao Tula Ram Marg for airport-bound travellers.

 

 

“Due to exigencies, traffic restrictions & diversions will be in place in both the carriageways and service road around IP Marg, ITO crossing, Vikas Marg, MGM IP flyover & BSZ Marg from W-Point up to A-Point,” the advisory stated, urging commuters to avoid restricted stretches and rely on public transport. 

Improperly parked vehicles along the restricted stretches would be towed and prosecuted, it added.

  Vance is expected to leave Delhi late Monday evening and head to Jaipur and Agra over the next few days.

 

(With inputs from agencies)