Gurgaon: On a day when the first widespread monsoon showers should have brought relief from the heat, they instead delivered a familiar reality check. For thousands, travelling a few kilometres became an exercise in patience rather than distance.A city synonymous with expressways, corporate towers and premium neighbourhoods found itself merely inching forward as waterlogged roads, flooded intersections and a highway cave-in turned routine commutes into hours-long ordeals.Tuesday afternoon’s rain brought traffic to a near standstill across the city, with jams rippling from one arterial road to another. Water accumulated rapidly on key stretches, forcing vehicles to crawl through inundated roads and creating tailbacks that stretched for kilometres. School buses, office cabs, ambulances and private vehicles all found themselves caught in the same gridlock.The worst-hit locations included Rajeev Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Kherki Daula toll plaza, IFFCO Chowk, Signature Tower, Sector 31 market, Mata Mandir Road, Golf Course Road, MG Road, Subhash Chowk, Vatika Chowk, Narsingpur, Basai Road, Bilaspur, Pachgaon, Manesar and the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR). Traffic also slowed considerably near GD Goenka School in Sector 48 after rainwater submerged parts of the carriageway.Golf Course Road — often projected as the city’s flagship corridor — became one of the biggest choke points. Long queues of vehicles crept forward bumper-to-bumper, while MG Road witnessed similar scenes.“It took me around 45 minutes to reach the Sector 55-56 Rapid Metro station from Sikanderpur. Normally, it takes 15-20 minutes, but waterlogging reduced traffic to a crawl,” said Shobit Khanna, a resident of Sector 65.The situation worsened around 5pm after a road caved in near Narsingpur on the Delhi-Jaipur carriageway of NH-8. To ease the mounting congestion, police created three diversions. Vehicles from Delhi heading towards Jaipur were diverted onto Dwarka Expressway near Mahipalpur. At Rajeev Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk, motorists were redirected via Sohna Road and Southern Peripheral Road.The diversions, however, shifted the burden rather than reducing it. SPR, already struggling with heavy traffic, became even more congested as diverted vehicles poured onto the corridor.“Gurgaon again came to a halt after a spell of rain. It took nearly 90 minutes to cover barely 7km from SPR to Sector 46. Every monsoon, commuters are left helpless while authorities promise lasting solutions,” said Vikas Sharma, a resident of Sector 71.Navigation apps mirrored the scale of the disruption, showing travel times exceeding an hour for stretches that ordinarily take less than 20 minutes. Several commuters said it took them nearly an hour to travel just 3-4km, while others spent well over an hour negotiating the roughly 10km stretch between Rajeev Chowk and the Sirhaul toll plaza.The traffic mess also affected schoolchildren. Buses on Sohna Road remained stuck in slow-moving traffic between Subhash Chowk and Vatika Chowk, leaving anxious parents tracking delayed arrivals. Across the city, two-wheelers took shelter beneath flyovers as the rain intensified, while motorists cautiously navigated waterlogged roads to avoid vehicles stalling.The disruption spilled into workplaces too, prompting several companies to allow employees to leave early or work remotely to avoid the evening peak.Traffic police said more than 1,000 personnel, supported by an additional team of around 125 staffers, 17 motorcycle riders and four police vehicles, were deployed across critical junctions. Five cranes and ambulances were kept on standby to remove stranded vehicles and respond to emergencies.“We are monitoring traffic continuously and will remain on the ground until normal movement is restored. Following the cave-in, every possible effort was made to streamline traffic on Delhi-Jaipur Expressway,” said Satyapal Yadav, ACP (traffic), highways.For some, however, the day stretched well beyond office commute.Deepali, who travels daily to Delhi, waited nearly two hours for her 4.38pm shuttle at Atlas Chowk before returning to Airtel Chowk to board another bus. “Even then, the bus barely moved. We remained stuck inside for hours because the traffic barely crawled,” she said.
