Low level road on cards to ease traffic near new HC building

LUCKNOW: After construction of a flyover, the authorities are now planning to build a low level elevated road from Hewett Polytechnic crossing on Faizabad Road to provide easy access and remove traffic jams near the new upcoming high court building in Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar.

On Tuesday, principle secretary, PWD will hold a meeting with national highway authority and other officials to finalise a consultant, who would prepare a detailed design of the road that would be the first of its kind in the state capital.

“Commissioner Lucknow Division had a constituted a building committee under RC Baranwal, chief engineer, national highway, PWD to explore and study options through which bottlenecks and traffic chaos could be eased on the Faizabad Road near the new court campus,” said an official on the panel. While a flyover was ruled out because of security reasons, the initial proposal before the committee was to either construct an underpass or a tunnel from kilometre 9 milestone near Polytechnic Crossing till Shaheed Path junction (milestone 10.7km) on Faizabad Road to take care of the problem.

A traffic census done in February, this year, showed that the four-lane highway had almost exhausted its design capacity to handle a traffic volume of 60,000 passenger car units (PCU) on a daily basis. “The census report revealed that the highway was already catering to 59,484 PCUs and required an immediate capacity augmentation because the volume is expected to go up significantly once the court campus becomes functional,” the official pointed out.

Consequently, the committee headed by chief engineer Baranwal met on November 18, to consider the two alternatives before it – that of building an underpass or a tunnel. Other members on the panel included general manager, UP Bridge Corporation, chief engineers of LDA, LMC, project director, NHAI, general manager, UP Jal Nigam and superintending engineer, PWD (Lucknow circle). “After discussing the options and considering topographical and other factors like underground utility services into account, the panel was of the opinion that a low-level elevated road would be the best option to tackle the traffic flow,” said the official.

He said the design of the elevated road would be prepared by the consultant and its height would be kept below the boundary level of the high court building. “The existing service road in front of the court campus would be lowered,” he said, adding that work on the blueprint would start once the drawings were cleared by the security committee.