2-km flyover likely to end chaos near Anand Vihar

NEW DELHI: The public works department will soon construct a 2-km flyover connecting two major traffic intersections to improve traffic flow between Anand Vihar ISBT and Dilshad Garden metro station.
Senior PWD officials said UTTIPEC has given its approval to build a flyover over Surya Nagar and Ramprastha traffic intersections along Road No 56, which has Delhi on one side and Uttar Pradesh on the other. The new flyover, said an official, would make a nearly 7km stretch – from Dilshad Garden border to Ghazipur roundabout on NH24 – signal-free.
Officials said they will now seek the government’s final approval before working on the estimates, seeking sanctioning of funds and floating tenders. “The actual construction will take about two years. We hope the flyover will be ready in 2021,” he said.
According to a senior PWD official, the two traffic signals at Surya Nagar-Vivek Vihar and Ramprastha impede traffic flow. “While there is a large volume of vehicles that goes straight on this road, there is also a sizeable number of vehicles that make small trips among the residential colonies of Surya Nagar, Brij Vihar, Rampuri and Ramprastha in UP, and Vivek Vihar, Jhilmil and Anand Vihar in Delhi. The new flyover has been planned to segregate this traffic from the straight moving one,” said an engineer.
The new flyover will benefit vehicular traffic coming from Dilshad Garden, Shahdara and Sahibabad and headed towards Noida and Mayur Vihar. Officials said while the volume of traffic is particularly high during the rush hour, long tails are seen even during afternoon when schools get over. The 7-km drive from Ghazipur to Dilshad Garden sometimes takes almost an hour in the evening. Vehicle queues at the Raghunath temple intersection often go up to the existing railway overbridge at Ramprastha.
The flyover will start just before the Surya Nagar traffic intersection, go over the Raghunath temple (Ramprastha) and end after the Shreshtha Vihar T-point, just ahead of the Ramprastha railway overbridge. The six-lane flyover with two nine-metre carriageways is likely to cost approximately Rs 350 crore. But project estimates haven’t been finalised yet, said officials.
The project also entails improving the existing road and constructing a non-motorised vehicle lane and a footpath. “There are several schools in the vicinity and the road sees a large volume of students moving across on foot and on bicycles. There is going to be a dedicated cycle track of 2.5-metre width on either side as well as a pedestrian track,” said an official.