Elevated road will link all bridges on Yamuna

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Thursday announced an elevated road parallel to the Yamuna between Signature Bridge and Kalindi Kunj bypass and another over Najafgarh drain from Kakrola More in west Delhi to Wazirabad in north Delhi to decongest Ring Road and parts of north and west Delhi.

Finance minister Manish Sisodia while presenting the Budget 2108-19 said, “The elevated road will run between Signature Bridge in north Delhi and Kalindi Kunj bypass in south Delhi and its construction will start this year. It will decongest Ring Road between Wazirabad and DND Flyover and reduce the travel time by 20-30 minutes after completion.”

The 13-km corridor, along the way, will connect all eight bridges over the Yamuna — Signature bridge, Old Iron bridge, Geeta Colony, Vikas Marg, Nizamuddin bridge, the under construction phase 3 of Barapullah, Delhi Noida Direct (DND) flyway and Kalindi bypass.

Sisodia said the construction of elevated corridor over Najafgarh drain will also start in the financial year 2018-19. This road will be constructed parallel to the drain in a stretch of 25 km.

Currently, people have to spend an hour to travel between the two areas via Najafgarh Road. “The elevated road is expected to reduce the travel time by half,” a government official said.

The government proposed a total expenditure of Rs 5,145 crore for transport and road infrastructure this year’s budget. Sisodia also announced that construction of Kalindi Kunj bypass between DND flyover and Faridabad along Yamuna and Agra Canal will also be started in 2018-19 fiscal .

However, the government failed to mention the status of the tunnel at city’s busiest Ashram crossing and underpass at Mahipalpur announced in the last budget. Also there was no mention of east-west corridor (Anand Vihar to Peeragarhi) and north-south corridor (Wazirabad to Airport) announced in 2016-17 budget.

The tunnel was aimed at decongesting the Ashram intersection.

The government also did not provide any information about the current status of the project. According to PWD officials, the project is yet to take off as it could not get financial approval.

CONSTRUCTION OF AN ELEVATED CORRIDOR OVER NAJAFGARH DRAIN WILL ALSO START THIS YEAR, SAID SISODIA