New underpass to ease IGI ride from next week

  • | Thursday | 21st February, 2019

A node of this new link has been provided for direct connectivity to NH-8 towards Dhaula Kuan side for the traffic coming from airport end. Traffic heading to the airport can take the underpass to join the Northern Access Road in the airport area, which provides connectivity to IGI Road. This is a one-way road and has been widened to meet the requirement.“Those who want to take a U-turn won’t require to drive through the underpass. It has the capacity to meet the traffic demand of 30,000 vehicles a day. It has also resulted in a net saving of about Rs 26 crore.

NEW DELHI: The drive between Vasant Kunj and IGI Airport will be smoother and about 30 minutes shorter from next Thursday with the opening of the underpass on National Highway 8 connecting Mahipalpur Bypass with Aerocity.The 135-metre underpass with dual carriageway will help traffic bypass the gridlock at Mahipalpur village and cut down on the long detour to enter the airport premises. The other road networks which are part of this project will ease the traffic flow from Vasant Kunj side to Dhaula Kuan and from Gurgaon side to Vasant Kunj as well.The underpass, built by Central Public Works Department (CPWD), could also be a better option for commuters coming from other parts of south Delhi to reach the airport since this would help them avoid the choked streets at Dhaula Kuan or Rao Tula Ram Marg.The underpass has been built in 395 days, beating the official deadline by five days. It has also resulted in a net saving of about Rs 26 crore. It has the capacity to meet the traffic demand of 30,000 vehicles a day. “Average daily traffic on Mahipalpur road is about 38,500 and we are expecting about 75% of these will take the new road, which will help save 14,000 hours of travel time per day,” said an official.Seeking to ensure seamless traffic flow from Mehrauli side towards IGIA, CPWD built a unidirectional flyover at T-point of Mahipalpur Bypass road and Vasant Kunj. Traffic heading to the airport can take the underpass to join the Northern Access Road in the airport area, which provides connectivity to IGI Road. This is a one-way road and has been widened to meet the requirement.“Those who want to take a U-turn won’t require to drive through the underpass. They can take slip roads to take the U-turn at grid. This facility has been provided on both sides of the Gurgaon Expressway,” a CPWD engineer said.Again to ensure that there is no water-logging, three sumps have been created and six pumps will be deployed with the capacity to drain out 24,000 litres per minute.A new three lane road only meant for the traffic coming from airport side towards Vasant Kunj has been built to make the drive seamless. A node of this new link has been provided for direct connectivity to NH-8 towards Dhaula Kuan side for the traffic coming from airport end. Officials said there is a plan to do away with the traffic signal at the crossing of Northern Access Road and IGI Road.Two loops have been built on either side of the tunnel for traffic turning right. While vehicles coming from Gurgaon side can use the loop to join the underpass to head towards Vasant Kunj, those coming from Vasant Kunj can take the other loop to head towards Dhaula Kuan.Putting an end to the long tussle between the state and the central government over the sharing of fund for this project, Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri had laid the foundation stone in January 2018 saying that his ministry would bear the entire cost.This was one of the projects that a high-powered committee set up by the erstwhile urban development ministry in October 2014 suggested for decongesting Delhi roads. Following the recommendations, the government had announced an assistance of Rs 3,250 crore from the urban development fund (UDF) in November 2015 for undertaking junction improvements, providing missing link and removing choke points in Delhi.

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