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The Delhi Traffic Police plans to close a 500-metre stretch of National Highway 48 on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway for approximately 90 days to help the construction of a flyover and two underpasses, rising concerns about traffic congestion on the already congested stretch.
The closure near Shiv Murti is intended to allow projects that will connect south Delhi with Dwarka, according to traffic police officers familiar with the situation.
One of the underpasses will link the Dwarka Expressway to Nelson Mandela Marg, while the other will connect the Dwarka link road to NH-48. The flyover will run above them, linking points near the CNG pump and the Shiv Murti.
Traffic police officers stated that while the two underpasses and flyover are being built, vehicles on the highway will be diverted to access roads built by NHAI next to the carriageway towards Delhi.
The construction work will be completed within 90 days, and for that the traffic police have studied the route and volume of traffic on this stretch. By March 14, the Delhi police will give a no-objection certificate to NHAI so that they can start the construction work.
The slip roads are not narrow as other access roads, that’s why the diversion will not cause major problems for commuters. As per reports, nearly 75,000 vehicles pass through this stretch every day.
“The 500 metre road from Shiv Murti up to the Rajokri flyover will be majorly affected during construction work,” said Nirman Jambulkar, project director, NHAI, Gurugram.
Daily commuters believe that the underpasses and flyover should be completed as soon as possible and likely to cause terrible traffic jams. Although, once completed, this stretch will benefit commuters to Delhi and Dwarka.
The new constructions will likely shrink commuters travel time to Dwarka, Delhi. The under-construction Dwarka Expressway is a 29-kilometer stretch that runs from Shiv Murti in Delhi, through Dwarka and several sectors in Gurugram, and ends near Kherki Daula Toll Plaza.
The Haryana government conceived the project in 2006, but it was stalled due to land issues and was taken over by NHAI in 2016 after it was designated a national highway.
The project began in 2019 and was supposed to be completed in 2021, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the deadlines for both the Delhi and Gurugram sections were pushed back. The Gurugram section is expected to be finished by July of this year, while the Delhi sections are expected to be finished by 2024.
Source-The Hindustan Times
