BHUBANESWAR : In a major infrastructure push for easing traffic congestion in the city, the Odisha government is mulling a new expressway connecting Rasulgarh to Raghunathpur in the northern corridor of the capital region.
The proposed four-lane carriageway, envisaged as an alternative route to the busy Jayadev Vihar-Nandankanan road, is expected to significantly improve mobility between key residential and institutional zones of the capital city.
If built as planned, the road will serve as a high-speed corridor linking NH-16 in Rasulgarh with the Nandankanan-Raghunathpur region, where large-scale residential and commercial establishments are located and coming up.
Sources said the new expressway will not only help decongest the Jayadev Vihar-Patia-Nandankanan stretch, which currently faces heavy vehicular traffic, but also provide a seamless route for vehicles moving between the southern and northern parts of the capital without entering the city’s core areas.
The state government had earlier planned similar alternative roads and conducted a joint survey for proposed roads from CRPF square to Nandankanan through Ekamra Kanan, Acharya Vihar to Patia via Sainik School, and development of the stretch beside the Daya West canal. The road via Sainik School has come as a relief for commuters and the other two projects are yet to take off.
Although no route chart has been finalised, officials said the new route could run parallel to the Chandaka-Patia belt, touching major nodes up to Raghunathpur, offering better connectivity to institutional areas and IT hubs. It is likely to be developed with service roads, pedestrian pathways and provisions for future expansion, reflecting the government’s focus on integrated urban mobility.
The Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation (OBCC) has been tasked to deploy an agency for a feasibility study and prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the Rasulgarh to Nanpur/Raghunathpur project. The report will include alignment studies, traffic volume and forecast for a period of 30 years, land requirement assessment, environmental impact analysis and cost estimation.
The OBCC has already issued a request for proposals for selecting an agency to take up the survey works. The consulting agency will also provide drawings, locations of toll plaza, parking areas, weighing stations, bus bays and rest areas, if any, besides suitable measures for surface and subsurface drainage.
A senior official of the Works department said the proposed project is in its initial stage. “The road’s viability will be studied first. Once the feasibility survey is conducted and a DPR is prepared, it will be placed before the government for approval. The expressway is expected to reduce travel time by at least 30 to 40 per cent once operational and divert a considerable volume of traffic,” he added.
