Delhi: How Pragati Maidan underpasses & tunnel may buck flooding trend

NEW DELHI: According to officials of the Public Works Department, elaborate arrangements have been made at the newly inaugurated Pragati Maidan traffic system of tunnels and underpasses to prevent any waterlogging in the monsoons.
In Delhi, anything below the surface gets flooded every year, inconveniencing the people, but the integrated transit network at Pragati Maidan promises to be different in this regard.
According to PWD, fully automated drainage pumping systems have been installed at the tunnel and the underpasses. The engineers took into account the rainfall data of the past 25 years while designing the sumps and drainage network. A new stormwater drainage network with pipes of large width and chambers has been created. To remove accumulated water, pumps with high velocity pressure capacities have been set up, according to ITPO officials.
Interventions have also been made on the surface and different design measures taken to avoid flooding. High points road geometry has been improved on Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg, Purana Qila Road and Ring Road for this purpose.
As the tunnel is constructed on the Yamuna floodplain where the water table is fairly high, extra precautions have been taken to double waterproof the walls using an external sheet and polyurethane coating.
The tunnel is Delhi’s widest urban underground, six-lane structure measuring 1.36km. It has ramps and the tunnel width varies from 28.2 metres to a spacious 42 metres at certain points. The integrated corridor will allow commuters travelling to India Gate and other central Delhi areas from east Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad to avoid the usual traffic jams at ITO, Mathura Road and Bhairon Marg.
The tunnel starts near the National Sports Complex of India on Purana Qila Road and passes underneath the redeveloped Pragati Maidan trade fair complex to join Ring Road near the Pragati Power Station on the other side.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the tunnel and five underpasses last Sunday. Costing around Rs 923 crore to build, the integrated transit network consists of a tunnel and six underpasses and these were part of the redevelopment of the Pragati Maidan expo grounds. The four underpasses on Mathura Road allow vehicles to take U-turns and to avoid traffic signals on Bhagwan Dass Road, Sher Shah Road, Bhairon Marg and Subramanyam Bharti Marg, thus making the stretch signal-free and helping to decongest these usually crowded stretches. As part of the project, two new pedestrian overbridges were also constructed on Mathura Road.