Removal of foot overbridge on NH-24 causes traffic jam
The National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) decision to dismantle the pedestrian bridge on National Highway 24 (NH-24) crippled the traffic movement on the road on Thursday and even posed danger to the life of commuters.
Construction work for DelhiMeerut Expressway is going on and construction is on in two parts — from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to UP Gate and from Dasna in Ghaziabad to Hapur.
“We had put two cranes in the night as mostly the work which may pose danger to the life of commuters is done at night. But the cranes got stuck and we had to shift the work. We always take care of the traffic movement but this time it was unavoidable,” said a NHAI official.
The work of removing the FOB near Ghazipur started at 11.30am and went on till evening.
A senior traffic police officer said that the jam on NH-24 continued through the day even as they deployed their staff there to handle the situation. “We have been warning the commuters through social media ,” said the officer. Motorists, however, complained that the traffic police should have warned them in advance about the construction work on that stretch. They also questioned the police for allowing repair works during peak traffic hours.
“I was stuck in a four-km long jam. At one point, I covered only 100 metres in 20 minutes,” said Rajan Dheer, a Noida-based banker.
Another commuter, Mayank Jain, took to social media to complain that an ambulance was among the hundreds of vehicles caught in the jam with him.
The Delhi to UP Gate stretch of the section is slotted for 14-lane development at a cost of nearly ₹937 crore over a stretch of 8.7km. Work for the Delhi section was awarded to the concessionaire on March 4 this year. The project is expected to make the commute easier for nearly 1.5 lakh cars daily.