2 ‘half underpasses’ to free up Outer Ring Rd

NEW DELHI: Commuters travelling between Wazirabad and Mukarba Chowk on Outer Ring Road will have a smoother ride from June as the project for developing two half underpasses, or U-turns, between Wazirabad and Burari is now in the final leg, a senior PWD official overseeing the project said.

“A total of 71 pre-cast segments were to be installed in these two underpasses and all of these units are in place. We are now developing ramps and approach roads from Outer Ring Road for these half underpasses. The traffic movement is likely to start in the later part of June,” said the official.

The two half underpasses and a subway near Jagatpur are part of the PWD plan to make the busy 12-lane stretch signal free while significantly decongesting the Burari roundabout which witnesses frequent traffic jams.

While the project, which began in December 2018, used a novel approach of assembling the precast segments on the project site to reduce construction time, PWD officials said the project is running around two years behind the initial deadline of June 2020. PWD officials have blamed the pandemic induced lockdowns, financial stress and shortage of labour for the delay.

“Both the half underpasses have a total of 71 constituent concrete segments all of which have been installed and the work on subway is complete. The two half underpasses are separated by a distance of 300m and they comprise of 46 segments (Wazirabad end) and 25 segments (Jagatpur end). The two half underpasses are separated by a distance of 300m... The entry and exit on either side will be at least three metres above the level of a drain running alongside the road. This is to prevent any flooding... The U-turn underpass near Jagatpur is 103m long while the Wazirabad underpass is 125m long. The height of underpass is around 4m therefore only light vehicles and cars will be allowed to use it,” official explained.

A government official said that besides easing the traffic flow on Outer Ring Road, the project is also likely to benefit residents of Wazirabad, Gopalpur, Jagatpur and Gandhi Vihar, who are currently forced to take long detours.

Currently, commuters travelling from northeast Delhi’s Gopalpur towards Majnu ka Tila and ITO are forced to travel in the opposite direction for almost 5km and take a U-turn at the Burari roundabout to get to the other side.

“Once completed, the two underpasses will significantly reduce travel time while also decongesting the Burari roundabout. At the end of the project, the traffic red light at Jahangirpuri and Jagatpur will be removed making the 8.5km stretch on Outer Ring Road Singal free,” official said.

This is the first PWD project where on-site assembly of pre-fabricated segments technique is being used. The work on the subway near Gandhi Vihar is complete and it is expected to primarily benefit the pedestrian movement from Mukherjee Nagar towards Burari.

“The subway is being constructed as several accidents have been reported from this area where people from both sides of the road try to cross the 12-lane road. The point is also used by large number of students who are moving from Mukherjee Nagar coaching centre hub,” official added.