Meerut eway to connect new bypass to Faridabad
PLAN Road from DND loop to NH-9 meeting point near Sarai Kale Khan to be unclogged
NEWDELHI: To provide smooth connectivity between National Highway-9 (Delhi-meerut Expressway) and Faridabad in Haryana, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is preparing a plan to ease congestion on Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan.
The decision was taken after NHAI took over the Kalindi Kunj bypass project from the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) last year.
To start work on Kalindi Kunj project, the ministry of road transport and highways had notified the stretch between NH-9 near Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi and Kail Gaon, Ballabgarh and Faridabad in Haryana as NH-148NA in January.
The Kalindi Kunj bypass project is aimed at providing an alternative route between Delhi and Ballabhgarh, and ease congestion on Mathura Road.
“The stretch on the Ring Road is now part of the national highway. We are preparing a detailed plan so that Faridabad-bound traffic from Ghaziabad and Meerut can bypass Delhi traffic and don’t get stuck on Ring Road,” said an NHAI official.
The widening of NH-9 (earlier called NH-24) has led to increase in traffic on the Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan. NHAI officials say that during peak hours, there is a traffic tailback till NH-9 due to bottleneck at Sarai Kale Khan.
A senior NHAI official said south Delhi-bound traffic slows down due to continuous pedestrian movement at Sarai Kale Khan. This results in tailback till the NH-24 T-point near Millennium Indraprastha Park. “Highspeed traffic from NH-24 slows down due to continuous pedestrian movement at the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT). The pur- pose of widening of the highway is defeated if vehicles from NH-24 get struck on Ring Road. We had been asking PWD to make arrangements for smooth traffic movement,” he said.
To address the problem, Delhi PWD had proposed a two-lane flyover, parallel to the existing one at ISBT at Sarai Kale Khan. PWD officials say the project has been approved by Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre.
But, with the Ring Road stretch being declared as part of the national highways, PWD officials said, it is likely to be handed over to NHAI. To ensure smooth traffic flow between NH-9 and Faridabad, NHAI is preparing a detailed plan by integrating all the proposed road infrastructure projects of Delhi PWD.
According to a senior NHAI official, efforts are being made to integrate the Ashram flyover extension project—delhi government has approved a project to extend Ashram flyover till Delhi Noida Direct flyway—with the Kalindi Kunj bypass project.
“We are working with PWD to integrate their projects, including Ashram flyover extension project, with our plan to ease traffic and provide seamless access to Faridabad-bound traffic. The plan will be ready by the end of this month,” said the official aware of the development.
Experts say that declaring the Ring Road stretch as national highway will help in ease traffic movement. “Joining the two traffic nodes will help. The existing Ring Road stretch near Sarai Kale Khan can’t take the traffic load. There is need to augment the capacity. Once the Kalindi Kunj project is functional, it will ease traffic,” said Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture.