PWD To Develop Three Underpasses In Delhis Shalimar Bagh

By Travel Destination 05 Oct, 2022 Post a Comment

The Delhi government’s public works department (PWD) will construct three underpasses near the busy Mukarba Chowk in north Delhi on the Outer Ring Road to decongest the stretch, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday, and laid the foundation stone for the project.

The Rs59.5 crore project will help commuters using the Outer Ring Road as well as residents of Badli, Haiderpur, Rohini, Wazirabad, Azadpur and Transport Nagar, PWD officials said.

Sisodia, who also holds the PWD portfolio, said the first underpass will be built near gate number 3 of Haiderpur Badli Metro station that will facilitate pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, the second one will come up between Badli and Shalimar Bagh and the third will be constructed between Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar and Azadpur. “All three underpasses will be completed within one year and ease traffic congestion in the area,” Sisodia added.

A senior PWD official said that the underpass number one will go under the Mukarba railway overbridge. “It will be 9 metres wide with five metres for non-motorised vehicles and four metres for the movement of pedestrians. Currently, these people have to travel across the Mukarba Chowk in order to go across the Outer Ring Road,” the official said. The second one, a 50-metre-long underpass will be for vehicles coming from Badli on Outer Ring Road towards Shalimar Bagh. “At present, vehicles going towards Badli on Outer Ring Road have to use a loop on the main Mukarba Chowk while moving towards Shalimar Bagh. With the new underpass, the travel distance will be reduced by 1.5 kilometres,” said the official who is associated with the project.

The third underpass is being constructed for reducing the movement of heavy trucks from Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar. “The third underpass will be built for vehicles plying between Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar to Azadpur via an upcoming elevated road. This underpass will help in cutting movement of heavy trucks at Mukarba Chowk.

Baca Juga

S Velmurugan, chief scientist, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), said that Mukarba Chowk is one of the most congested traffic nodes in the city. “This intersection also reports frequent accidents due to speeding. The underpasses will help in segregation of traffic headed towards Shalimar Bagh while also providing safe space to the pedestrians. These three underpasses will help in resolving the congestion to a large extent, but PWD should ensure that signages and safety audit is carried out and planning is minutely worked out to ensure the safety of pedestrians,” he added.

Velmurugan added that the clover leaf shaped flyovers such as the one on Mukarba Chowk report road accidents with the vehicles negotiating steep curves. “Two-wheeler drivers often find it difficult to negotiate such roads. The underpasses will help cut such traffic accidents,” he added.