BHUBANESWAR: Though the series of flyovers between Rasulgarh square and Baramunda has reduced traffic load on the service lanes running parallel to the bridges, citizens have argued that the structures have led to formation of a wall within the City and reduced visibility on either sides.
Considering the public resentment and assessing the traffic pattern of the State Capital, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has planned to design the two proposed flyovers at Khandagiri square and Gohira square with multiple spans (or gaps) between the piers. While the upcoming structures will be look-alike of the Rasulgarh flyover, bespoke designs will be incorporated by considering the direction of movement of City traffic.
The movement of traffic under the proposed bridges will be regulated in a controlled manner, allowing visibility on both sides. There will be multiple gaps under the flyover at Khandagiri square which is one of the most crowded junctions in the City. While interference of local traffic on the highway at Gohira square is not much of a concern, vehicular movement on the service roads at Khandagiri is extremely unruly, NHAI Chief General Manager, Odisha D Sarangi said.
As per the new design for seamless traffic movement, the service roads will be segregated from the junction. The new design will have separate service roads and ‘slip roads’ which will allow local vehicles to enter and move out of the highway in a safe and smooth manner. The vehicles from NH-16 entering the service roads would not interfere with the City traffic. These vehicles would use the slip roads which will act as highway ramps to connect with the service roads after covering a distance of 50 to 100 metres (or a small roundabout), NHAI sources said.
Construction of flyovers at Khandagiri and Gohira squares has been delayed for long. While NHAI attributes the reason to non-feasibility and subsequent cancellation of Bhubaneswar - Icchapuram six-laning project, the junctions were also left out from NH expansion plan of Bhubaneswar-Chandikhole stretch which was approved in 2006.
This September, the NHAI regional office had engaged a consultant to prepare the final design for the two flyovers. “The design has been completed and sent for approval to the NHAI headquarters. Once we get the nod from the authorities, tenders for the project will be floated by the first week of January,’’ Sarangi added.
The two structures will be built at a cost of `70 crore over a period of two and a half years.