Commuters to face RTR trauma for 2 more years

NEW DELHI: There's bad news for commuters who brave traffic snarls on and around south Delhi's Rao Tula Ram flyover every day: there will be no relief for at least two more years.
It has now been revealed that an underpass will have to be built on the nearby Benito Juarez Marg to divert traffic during the construction of a parallel flyover, alongside the existing one, which will ultimately unclog the stretch.
The underpass is expected to take up most of 2017, which means the flyover is likely to be ready only by the end of 2018.
This is the latest setback for commuters on the RTR stretch, which sees some of the worst traffic jams in the city due to an ill-conceived two-laned flyover design that has taken years to fix. PWD is currently engaged in pier work for the new flyover - for traffic heading towards the airport - before taking up the construction of pillars to support the 2.5-km-long elevated road.
However, the construction of the elevated corridor will necessitate traffic diversions, for which there is no space in the existing scenario. Even the little work going on has already left the road prone to constant jams.
“Traffic headed to the airport can be diverted to the space on the right of the existing road, but the traffic coming from the opposite direction has to be diverted to Benito Juarez Marg,“ explained a PWD official. To avoid further congestion here, an underpass is considered to be imperative. PWD had requested utilities such as Delhi Jal Board and GAIL to shift their pipelines in 2013, but the work hasn't been finished.
In fact, a part of the delay can be attributed to PWD minister Satyendar Jain, who halted the underpass project for a few months in 2015 when the utilities asked for Rs 50-75 crore for the shifting. As an official explained, “The project cost is around Rs 100 crore. If we had to spend Rs 50-75 crore more in shifting gas pipes and telephone lines, the project would not have been viable. The minister put the underpass on hold and asked PWD to look at other options to decongest the area. However, we are unable to identify viable alternatives and have decided to go ahead with the underpass.“
Without the completion of this underpass, the traffic diversion necessitated by the work on the elevated corridor will not be possible.
“We have a deadline of 2017-end to complete the underpass. Only after this can we close the carriageways on Outer Ring Road,“ said the official. By the time the underpass is complete, PWD hopes to have constructed a significant part of the gridlock-easing elevated corridor and have only the portion parallel to the existing flyover to work on. This, and the final touches, is likely to take 6-8 months.
Construction of the corridor, conceptualised in 2009, began around the end of 2014. Besides the shifting of utilities, the forest department permission for felling trees was also held up, finally coming through only in April this year. To meet the pre-project conditions, PWD planted compensatory trees along the Yamuna riverbed near the UP Link Road.
The elevated corridor, which will run parallel to the Munirka and RTR flyovers, will take care of the congestion created by the illplanned two-laned RTR flyover.
The original plan had a full-fledged flyover, but the government had caved in to pressure from area residents, who complained that such a structure would encroach on the service lane there. The matter had reached the court, where it is being monitored.