Gurgaon Diaries - 1, of Rapid Metros and Underpasses

In Gurgaon Diaries I document my musings as a resident of Gurgaon, India's millennium city.

I’ve been living in Gurgaon for the better part of seven years now, and its ever-evolving roads are a study in urban planning trying to catch up with rapid growth. National Highway 8 divides the city in two contrasting parts. On one side is Millennium City, home of glass corporate parks, golf courses and swanky residential societies. On the other side is Old Gurgaon, land of potholes, traffic woes and urban chaos.

The last couple of years have seen rapid development in Millennium City. Its progress has always centered around DLF Cyber City, home to most corporate offices and site of daily gridlocks. Here we have seen the swell of urbanization- Cyber Hub, Rapid Metro and most recently- the Gold Course Underpasses. To people living and working in Gurgaon these have not risen overnight, and their openings have been preceded by months of construction chaos on the roads. But to people from other parts of India, especially outside the metros, Millennium City is often splendor incarnate.

And as someone who commutes within Gurgaon daily, these developments are hard not to appreciate. Even though I rarely visit Cyber Hub (too expensive) and try to avoid Sector 29 (too crowded), I find myself loving the new Gold Course Underpasses. Previously, Gold Course Road was a nightmare to drive through. Now, with no signals and stoppage in flow, the drive from home to office is a breeze. Even the rigmarole of Cyber City has been resolved, as much as it can be given the volume of traffic.

And the swift expansion of Rapid Metro’s network is a blessing for many residents. I know of colleagues who now take the metro instead of driving to office. This is good for the city in more ways than one.

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