Mussoorie chokes on tourist traffic; locals, visitors face hours-long delays

Hindustan Times

6 days ago

Mussoorie: Mussoorie faced massive traffic snarls over the weekend, turning the usual one-hour drive from Dehradun into a gruelling three-hour journey for visitors and locals alike.
'Over 6,000 to 7,000 tourist vehicles turn up during weekends, and managing that number with limited parking facilities becomes a challenging task, forcing us to adopt 'out-of-the-box' measures like introducing a one-way plan to streamline traffic,' in-charge of Mussoorie police station Santosh Kunwar said.
Recognising the problem of limited infrastructure, Mussoorie Municipal Board chairperson Meera Saklani said that the ongoing Dehradun-Mussoorie Ropeway and Mussoorie Tunnel projects are aimed at providing long-term relief from traffic congestion.
Locals said most of the traffic jams in the town are due to narrow roads and consistent congestion in key areas, including Gandhi Chowk, Motilal Nehru Road, Picture Palace, and the stretch from Kingcraig to Zero Point. Library Chowk, a central junction directing traffic towards Mall Road, Kempty Falls, Company Garden, and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), bears the brunt of the town's congestion.
To mitigate the weekend rush, heavy vehicles, including tempo travellers and large buses, are not permitted to enter Mussoorie and are turned back from Kothal Gate. Additionally, traffic heading towards Kempty Fall is diverted from Gajji Bend towards Zero Point to avoid the bottleneck at Library Chowk.
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The district administration has implemented satellite parking (parking facilities located away from the main destination, used to alleviate congestion) at Hathipaon and Kingcraig, located approximately two to three kilometres from Mussoorie.
The Hathipaon road towards George Everest House was utilised as a parking yard for over 900 vehicles. 'Police teams deployed at the spot direct tourists to use shuttle services to Library Chowk and Picture Palace bus and taxi stands, encouraging them to avoid bringing their vehicles onto Mall Road,' inspector Kunwar said.
'Most tourists shy away from parking at the roadside in Gajji Bend, so the administration should develop a multi-level, secured parking facility where tourists can safely leave their expensive vehicles,' Mussoorie Hotel Association president Sanjay Agarwal said.
Mussoorie is losing out on tourists as people are seeking quieter destinations due to persistent traffic congestion. 'We had come to relax in Mussoorie during weekend holidays, but instead were caught in a traffic jam-like condition which resulted in wasting our time on searching for an adequate parking space in Mall Road, as most of them were full,' said Harpreet Singh, a tourist from Jalandhar, Punjab.
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Meanwhile, the Dehradun-Mussoorie Ropeway project, currently under construction, is also expected to reduce pollution from tourist vehicles. 'With one terminal in Dehradun and another in Mussoorie, it will help in decongestion as tourists will park their vehicles in Dehradun and come to Mussoorie using the state-of-the-art ropeway,' Saklani said.
Under the ₹700 crore Mussoorie Tunnel Project, a 2.74 km long, two-lane tunnel will be constructed that will help to bypass traffic in the main Mussoorie town area, including Mall Road and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). 'The project's DPR has been prepared, and we have sought time from Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for laying the foundation stone. Once constructed, it will bypass the bottleneck at Library Chowk and help divert vehicles heading towards Kempty Fall and Yamunotri,' Saklani said.