With the traffic pile up on the Outer Ring Road following the dismantling of the toll infrastructure in Gurgaon last month, shifting the spotlight on the urgency to construct a three-lane flyover parallel to the Rao Tula Ram Marg (RTR) flyover, the Delhi Government has granted the sanction for the project.
The project was earlier approved by the Delhi Urban Arts Commission last August and it envisages extending the existing Munirka flyover by a kilometre to beyond the RTR flyover on NH-8 side and construction of an underpass at the intersection of Benito Juarez Marg with Ring Road.
As per the sanction, which was granted on February 28, the new flyover, which will be 3 km long, will land near the Niryat Bhawan and is expected to decongest the stretch from IIT to IGI Airport. The new flyover will be a portal structure in the shape of an inverted ‘U’, which will come up parallel to the existing flyover and will have a 9 metre carriageway. Then there will be a 7.5 metre carriageway for traffic under this new flyover. “The work is expected to start this year,” said an official.
However, Vasant Vihar residents met Public Works Department officials early last week to request that an underpass be built at Sangam Marg. “The residents of Vasant Vihar have made several representations to the then PWD Minister, UTTIPEC and L-G,” said area MLA Anil Sharma. “They want to ensure that the connectivity is not cut off completely for the residents. The PWD officials agreed to an underpass between Vasant Vihar to Paschim Marg where it turns into Sangam Vihar,” he said.
Vasant Vihar Welfare Association secretary R.K. Vohra said residents have had to take long routes to get from and to their homes. “We do not want a situation where Vasanat Vihar is closed off from all sides like an island,” he said.