HH Chowk flyover to be shut for repair
GURUGRAM: Repair of the Hero Honda Chowk flyover, damaged on May 8, is most likely to start in a week. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will close the Jaipur-delhi carriageway of the flyover for 45 days.
Officials said that they will open a U-turn, being made at the flyover, within next seven days to minimise congestion.
However, the Gurugram police and NHAI officials are blaming each other for the delay in repair work.
NHAI officials said that a traffic plan needs to be put in place as carrying out repairs would mean diverting traffic. Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI, said, “Traffic diversion plan is not yet concurred by DCP (traffic).”
The Jaipur-delhi side of the flyover was damaged in May, since when two lanes have been barricaded, leaving one lane for commuters to travel on.
The traffic police, on the other hand, said that the diversion plan is ready and it is up to the NHAI to carry out the work. “The traffic diversion plan is in place. There are certain works that the NHAI needs to complete before the diversion can be implemented. We are in touch with NHAI for early completion of those works,” said Himanshu Garg, deputy commissioner of police, traffic.
“We need to take the diversion plan in concurrence from DCP traffic. It may take one week for the repair to begin,” said Sharma.
Traffic would be diverted through the service lanes and to give commuters a breather, NHAI will open a U-turn at the spot. “The U-turn on the JaipurDelhi side will open within next seven days while the U-turn on the Delhi-jaipur side will take 20 days,” said Sharma.
The 1.4 km flyover opened in 2017, since when it has been damaged twice — in April and May 2018. On May 8, a large chunk of concrete fell off the surface of the flyover, causing a large hole on the road. “A 15 metre-long section of the Jaipur-delhi road will be broken and rebuilt to its full width,” said Sharma.
A senior official of the contractor for the project, Valecha Engineering Ltd, said, “This September, a Chandigarh-based company had given its report on the flyover, in which it was described as a local issue.”