The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday inspected the unidirectional U-turn flyover at Iffco Chowk on the western side of the highway and gave the final nod for opening it for public use.
The flyover will be opened to traffic on Tuesday morning along with a service road, which will facilitate the onward movement of vehicles from the highway, NHAI officials said.
“The flyover is ready for use and we will open it for traffic on January 1 at 9.30 am. The inspection was conducted earlier on Monday morning,” NHAI project director Ashok Sharma said.
The flyover will help commuters travelling from Jaipur, Manesar, Sukhrali, Sector 17/18 road take a U-turn towards MG Road and Rajiv Chowk without approaching the congested Iffco Chowk junction.
The four-lane flyover is 917 metres long and has four continuous spans of 21 metres each. It has been built at a cost of Rs 32.75 crore. Construction of the flyover, which was due to be opened in July 2018, was held up because of the delay in clearing the requisite land for a power transmission tower and GAIL gas station.
With this, the only pending projects on this stretch are the L-shaped MG Road underpass, which has been held up because of a petrol pump on MG Road, and a straight flyover from Delhi to Jaipur, as a power transmission tower falls in its alignment. The straight flyover will ensure that the traffic coming from the national capital does not merge with local traffic at the Iffco Chowk.
NHAI consultant Saurabh Singhal said that they are waiting for the GMDA to shift the petrol pump so the L-shaped underpass, which was due to be opened in January 2018, can be completed. Last November, the unidirectional flyover at Iffco Chowk, on the eastern side, was made operational. It has helped the traffic from MG Road and Delhi to take a U-turn back towards Udyog Vihar and Delhi and eased congestion at the junction.
Iffco Chowk is arguably the busiest junction in the city, as it not only carries traffic from New Delhi into the city and vice versa but is also an opening to the malls and corporate offices located on MG Road. As such, the junction is always congested.
First Published: Jan 01, 2019 15:58 IST
