Tourist influx, narrow roads turn conditions chaotic in Kasauli

With no expansion of roads leading to Kasauli in the past several decades, tourist buses often get stuck on the narrow single-lane roads. Nearly 250 hotels, homestays and bed-and-breakfast units have come up across the 35-km Kasauli Planning Area. However, the roads are narrow and single-laned, causing frequent traffic issues.

Tourists visiting Kasauli first use the four-lane Kalka-Shimla highway, only to traverse onto the narrower single-lane Dharampur-Kasauli and Dharampur-Sanawar-Kasauli roads. These roads are unable to handle the increasing volume of tourist traffic.

Renowned hotel chains like ITC, Radisson, Ramada, Rosa Stay, Hyatt Regency, Best Western and Royal Arcade have establishments in the area and draw high-end tourists year-round for destination weddings and other purposes.

Due to the lack of designated parking spaces, taxis are often parked along the roadsides, adding to the congestion when tourist buses try to pass. The situation becomes chaotic at the Garkhal junction - where five roads converge. Tourist buses frequently get stuck here while negotiating the curves, leading to long queues of vehicles on all connecting roads. Navigating the narrow roads can sometimes consumes a lot of time, rendering the driving experience too arduous.

Kasauli SDM Mahindra Pratap acknowledged that long tourist buses often create traffic chaos. He added that measures such as diverting these buses through specific roads are being implemented to ease congestion at the Garkhal junction.

“Though funds have been spent on road improvement over the last two years, there has been no expansion, which is the main reason for the traffic jams on roads leading to Kasauli,” said Rocky Chimni, vice-president of the Kasauli Hoteliers and Residents Welfare Association.

A small step towards improvement is the concretisation of the 16.38-km Kimmughat–Chakki Mor road with Rs 1.62 crore having been received for it, nearly a decade-and-a-half after it was first laid.

Despite repeated promises, successive state governments have failed to plan or implement road expansion. However, a flyover currently under construction at Garkhal is expected to offer some relief by bypassing the congested junction. Its work is likely to be completed by next summer.

With the onset of the summer and a surge in weekend tourist traffic, the responsibility of managing these congested roads falls heavily on the local police.