Flyover repair hits traffic on Ring Road

NEWDELHI:THE Delhi public works department (PWD) on Wednesday started repair work on one carriageway at the flyover near Hyatt Regency on Ring Road, leading to traffic snarls in peak hours.

The flyover had developed gaps at its expansion joints, which will be replaced with new ones, a PWD official said. He said maintenance work will continue for two weeks till October 6.

To facilitate the repair work, the traffic department on Wednesday blocked vehicular movement on the carriageway for 15 days. Vehicles heading towards All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) from Dhaula Kuan were diverted under the flyover, which led to traffic chaos.

“PWD is carrying out repair work on Hyatt Regency Flyover from September 25 to October 6 on the carriageway from Dhaula Kuan to AIIMS. As a result, traffic on Ring Road from Dhaula Kuan to AIIMS will remain congested during this period. People are advised to avoid this stretch by taking alternative routes and plan their journey accordingly,” Delhi Traffic Police said in an advisory.

Traffic crawled on a two-km stretch between Moti Bagh and Bhikaji Cama Place.

“It took me around 30-40 minutes to travel between Moti Bagh and AIIMS as traffic moved at snail’s pace due to the repair work. Usually it takes 10 minutes,” a commuter, Rupesh Aggrawal, said.

Ring Road is one of the most important arterial roads in Delhi, carrying a heavy volume of traffic.

As the flyover carriageway was closed for vehicular movement and traffic was diverted from under the flyover, it led to a logjam in neighbouring areas as well.

Traffic jams were reported in areas such as RK Puram, Moti Bagh, Africa Avenue Marg, Bhikaji Cama Palace.

“Ring Road usually remains clogged but the situation was worse today (on Wednesday). Blocking or diverting traffic from arterial roads such as Ring Road floods nearby areas with traffic. I tried to avoid the affected stretch using colony roads but those also witnessed heavy traffic due to the diversions. Whatever the reason may be, it is the common public which suffers,” said another commuter Sandhya Pandey.

The PWD official said the repairing of the gaps was important to prevent bigger problems. All expansion joints of the flyover on both the carriageways will be changed.