“Every time I get stuck in a traffic jam on Rao Tula Ram Marg flyover, I curse the previous government,” said Rohit Khanna, an engineer with a private company. Rao Tula Ram flyover or the RTR Flyover has become a symbol of ill-planning by the civic agencies. “I am sure it wasn’t planned by engineers. No engineer would commit such a blunder,” said Mr Khanna.
Even now after the High Court intervention and several protests, the RTR stretch in south Delhi will see no respite from traffic jams, at least till 2017, as the Forest Department has refused to permit the cutting of trees so that a flyover can be constructed parallel to the double-lane flyover and help ease traffic movement.
Sadly, RTR flyover isn’t the lone example. Even some of the underpasses, ITO Chungi, Gulabi Bagh, Kasturba Nagar, to name a few, get waterlogged every time after the rains. The drainage system, along with these underpasses, is poorly done and water accumulates as the mouth of the drains is small and in some cases, like the Gulabi Bagh underpass, drains aren’t even constructed on one side.
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The ambitious Signature Bridge, former chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s dream project, is yet to see completion. And going by the last inspection of the project, it will be ready only by next year, Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra said. Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) is constructing the bridge, which is 675 metres long. As per the project details, the structure is a bow shaped steel pylon of about 154 m height, having 15 pairs of cable stays on one side and four pairs of back stays on the other side.
Then, there is ‘now-on-now-off’ ITO flyover project. It has been on and off the drawing board since 2006. “It was shelved because of the confusion over how to accommodate BRT, east-west corridor along with it at the ITO crossing,” said a PWD engineer. Though the AAP-government has announced the scrapping of the BRT corridor, the PWD engineer said that there were no talks regarding the revival of the ITO flyover project.