New Delhi: With rain disrupting the Republic Day dress rehearsal and worsening traffic across the city on Friday, another full dress rehearsal has been scheduled on Saturday.The rehearsal will begin at 10.15am from Vijay Chowk and proceed along Kartavya Path to India Gate, officials said. Kartavya Path will remain closed to all traffic from Vijay Chowk to India Gate between 10.15am and 12.30pm. Cross-traffic on Kartavya Path will also be restricted at major intersections, including Rafi Marg, Janpath and Man Singh Road, and India Gate will remain closed to all vehicular movement during the rehearsal.
For unavoidable travel, the traffic police has suggested alternative routes such as Mother Teresa Crescent Road, Sikandra Road, Firozeshah Road, Mathura Road, Subramaniam Bharti Marg and Motilal Nehru Marg.In the morning, security personnel and officials remained stationed at their posts despite the weather, many of them wearing raincoats and reflective vests, braving the rain and winter chill. Barricades, checkpoints and deployment plans also remained unchanged. As the restrictions persisted, congestion steadily built up on stretches feeding into the central ceremonial zone, including parts of ITO, Connaught Place, Mandi House and Daryaganj. Rain further reduced road capacity as drivers slowed down, maintained wider gaps and braked more frequently.On heavily loaded corridors such as Ring Road and Vikas Marg, even a marginal drop in speed triggered long queues and the stretches bore the brunt of spillover traffic from diverted routes. Several commuters were forced to reschedule appointments. “I had a work meeting at Mandi House at 1pm,” said Medhavi, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase I. “It usually takes no more than 30 minutes, but when I checked Google Maps around noon, it showed a travel time of 1 hour and 19 minutes.” She postponed the meeting to 2pm, but still arrived at 2.20pm.Gurgaon-bound commuters faced prolonged slowdowns along the Delhi-Gurgaon highway. Congestion was also reported around Dhaula Kuan, a key interchange linking south and central Delhi.Traffic officers said advisories were issued in advance and commuter response was largely in line with expectations. “But rain in itself was a big disruption as it slowed vehicular movement and there was a ripple effect after 1pm, but traffic gradually normalised,” an officer said, adding they received 17 calls regarding traffic jams.Commuters took to social media to flag disruptions. While pictures of the congested Delhi-Gurgaon highway got circulated, some also flagged signal failures and long waits near Mehrauli, Qutub Minar, Gurgaon Junction and Lado Sarai. “Traffic near Sarai Kale Khan is not moving. Coming from DME, it’s choked till Akshardham,” a commuter posted. Although restrictions were lifted around 1pm, congestion persisted well into the afternoon. The worst impact was seen on Noida Link Road, in front of Akshardham, and near Sarai Kale Khan, where queues lasted until at least 2pm.Arshdeep, who was driving to his office in ITO, said he had lost nearly 20 minutes navigating congestion outside Akshardham. “The restrictions were lifted, but traffic built up from multiple directions,” he added.
