If you are tired of getting stuck in traffic jams outside malls in Saket, here’s good news. Intending to decongest the Press Enclave Road, the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) has come up with a traffic circulation plan for the area. UTTIPEC wants to make vehicles enter underground parking lots through the service road in front of the malls, but exit from the road behind them. A month-long trial run is expected to be carried out from next week. At present, it takes commuters over 20 minutes to cover a short distance from the Saket Metro Station to malls in the area. On weekends, the situation becomes far worse. As several hospitals, flats and malls are located along this stretch, there is heavy traffic movement on Press Enclave Road. Encroachments, illegal parking and long lines of cars waiting to get inside underground parking lots of these malls have worsened the situation over the years. According to UTTIPEC, the Press Enclave Road witnesses congestion at two major points. The first point is the road in front of Metropolitan Mall and Select City Mall, where cars line up to enter or exit the underground parking at the two malls. The other area is the T-intersection near Modi Hospital, and this is due to vehicles taking U-turns while coming out of the malls, it added. UTTIPEC claimed that 60 per cent of the commuters using the road are actually people travelling to surrounding areas, and not visitors to malls. “To ensure smoother flow of traffic on this road, we have come up with a traffic circulation plan and worked out short-term as well as long-term solutions,’’ said UTTIPEC Director Ashok Bhattacharjee. The plan for the trial run was proposed to reduce traffic load on Press Enclave Road. UTTIPEC said it is in talks with mall owners, who have assured them that they have enough space to provide exits behind the malls. Also, motorists will not be allowed to take a U-turn at Modi Hospital junction. The one-way circulation system around the malls is now being explored by the Traffic Police in consultation with “stakeholders” of Press Enclave Road, the stretch between the district court and district centre, the peripheral road between the malls, and the road between Saket Sports Complex and the district centre. Meanwhile, to deter motorists from using surface parking lots, the UTTIPEC has suggested that their fees be made higher than underground facilities of the kind. A new surface parking lot should also be created in a vacant plot located near a mosque in the area as part of a long-term arrangement, it added. The Traffic Police will now meet all the stakeholders concerned, including UTTIPEC and other civic agencies, to carry out a ground study and figure out all the issues. Officers confirmed that they would be meeting stakeholders and mall operators shortly before fixing a date to start with the trial run. “After that, we will inform the public through a notification,’’ an officer said. “In a meeting held on June 10, the governing body gave in-principle approval for this plan. We were approached by the mall owners a while back with a request to construct a foot overbridge in the area. But we thought it was best to come up with a comprehensive traffic circulation plan for the entire place because it is turning into a traffic nightmare,’’ Bhattacharjee added. While no FOB will be constructed in the area, a surface-level pedestrian crossing, complete with a fixed-time pedestrian signal, will be put in place. “The service roads are partly used for unauthorised parking, but this will no longer be allowed. This road will only be used for facilitating entry of vehicles into all the malls. We have also sought that the 20-metre-wide road along the MGF and South Court Mall be connected to provide a link between Press Enclave Road and road behind the mall complex,’’ said UTTIPEC sources. Proper signages and road markings will also be provided. “A comprehensive long-term proposal, based on feedback from the trial run, will be worked out in consultation with all the stakeholders concerned,” said Bhattacharjee.