Ghaziabad: A series of traffic diversions due to ongoing metro construction and a heritage run threw weekend traffic out of gear, leaving residents and commuters stuck on key roads for hours, with disruptions stretching late into the night.Ghaziabad Heritage Run, organised on Saturday, began from City Forest in Raj Nagar Extension around 6pm. The route passed through Rotary Golchakkar and the elevated road up to UP Gate before returning along the same stretch, concluding around 9pm.Anticipating large participation, traffic police imposed diversions from noon and restricted vehicular movement on several major stretches. These included the elevated road from UP Gate to Rotary and key routes connecting Budh Chowk and Raj Nagar Extension.Traffic was diverted towards Meerut Tiraha, Hindon River Metro Station, Mohan Nagar rotary and Karhera cut. However, these alternative routes soon witnessed heavy congestion due to the sudden surge in vehicular load. Commuters reported being stuck for hours, with many describing the situation as chaotic and poorly managed.The staggered restrictions throughout the day led to long, serpentine queues across several stretches.“I was travelling from Indirapuram to Raj Nagar Extension, which usually takes about 30 minutes, but it took me over two hours today,” said a commuter caught in the jam near Meerut Tiraha.Some commuters took to X to express their frustration.“Absolute administrative failure by Ghaziabad police and GDA… Unplanned and poorly executed traffic control has brought the entire city to a standstill till 10.40pm,” one user wrote.“I left ITO in Delhi at around 9:15 PM to go to Aura Society in Rajnagar Extension, and I reached home at 11:15 PM. The delay happened because entry from UP Gate to the elevated road was closed. I then took the lower route through Indirapuram and Vasundhara, but the road near Hindon canal was heavily congested, and I was stuck in traffic there for about 40 minutes. After getting out of that, I reached GT Road, but the U-turn towards the Rajnagar Extension bypass road was blocked. Because of this, I had to take a longer route via Meerut Tiraha, and the entire GT Road was heavily jammed,” said a daily commuter.The situation was further aggravated by parallel restrictions due to metro construction work between Model Town Sector 62 and CISF T-point on NH9. From early morning, the service road towards CISF T-point was closed, forcing vehicles to take diversions via Gaur Green cut and the Kala Pathar route, adding pressure on already congested roads.Office-goers and local residents expressed frustration over the lack of coordination and prior public awareness. “There should have been better planning. Two major diversions on the same day created unnecessary trouble for the public,” said another commuter.Traffic personnel were deployed at key junctions, but the heavy volume of vehicles made it difficult to maintain smooth flow. Authorities had earlier advised the public to avoid unnecessary travel and use alternative routes, but the scale of disruption suggested the measures were insufficient.By late afternoon, traffic remained slow across most diversion routes, with officials expecting normal movement to resume only after the event concluded.
