Noida: Three years after a six-lane flyover was added to the area to ease traffic congestion on the arterial road linking Noida to Greater Noida West, Parthala roundabout has continued to witness peak-hour snarls almost daily. Noida Authority has now proposed to reduce the roundabout’s width to accommodate more volume of traffic descending from Vikas Marg, which connects Sectors 52 and 71 to Gaur Chowk, as it converges with the Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad (FNG) road connecting Sorka village to Chhajarsi colony.Officials said at least two arms of the roundabout may be closed and two U-turns added to curb frequent wrong-side driving. Parthala flyover, modelled on Delhi’s Signature Bridge, is Noida’s first cable-stayed bridge and offers faster access to Greater Noida West while easing travel towards Noida and Delhi. The 600-metre-long flyover, opened in 2023, considerably streamlined vehicle flow on Vikas Marg, but traffic on the FNG Road has continued to crawl as it reaches the roundabout. The crawling traffic from the Parthala roundabout and flyover funnels into two lanes at Gaur Chowk and adds to the snarl there.A recent work tender, floated by the Authority’s traffic cell for redesigning the junction, states the roundabout will be reduced to improve traffic navigation. The existing roundabout is likely to be closed, and two dedicated U-turns—one of them on Vikas Marg near Homes 121 and another on the FNG Road—will be developed. In the absence of designated U-turns, commuters often resort to wrong-side driving on the Parthala flyover and the road below it.Shobhit Kapoor, a resident of Homes 121, said that the roundabout remains choke-a-block during peak traffic hours. “With no U-turns in place, residents along Vikas Marg are forced to take a detour to the FNG Road via the roundabout and loop back to access their housing societies,” he said, adding that many bikers routinely take risky wrong-side rides to save time.Sorkha resident Gaurav Kumar said the FNG stretch too turns severely congested during peak hours. “Even a minor bottleneck at the roundabout triggers long queues on both sides. The situation needs urgent intervention,” he said. An official from the Authority said that after the bids are submitted by Feb 19, tenders would be opened and work for the Rs 5 crore project would begin in March.
