NEW DELHI: An underpass and two flyovers in Mahipalpur to facilitate signal-free travel between Vasant Kunj and the Delhi airport were thrown open to the public on Thursday. Constructed at a cost of Rs 188 crore, the facilities will play a crucial role in unclogging traffic on two major stretches—the Rao Tula Ram Marg-Outer Ring Road stretch, and National Highway 48 along Delhi Cantonment. These roads witness heavy traffic movement as a large number of commuters going to the airport or Gurugram use them daily.
The underpass and the flyovers will predominantly help commuters in south Delhi by reducing travel time between the airport and Vasant Kunj by at least 30 minutes.Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, inaugurated the newly constructed flyovers and underpass, built between Northern Mahipalpur Bypass Road and Airport Road near Hanuman Mandir, in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri.
“This project, constructed by Central Public Works Department (CPWD), will provide better connectivity to Indira Gandhi International Airport from South Delhi and vice versa, and also reduce traffic congestion on the Mehrauli-Mahipalpur Road,” said an official of the department.The foundation stone for the project was laid by Puri in January last year. “Foundation stone laid on 23 Jan. 2018. Project inaugurated on 28 Feb. 2019. Mahipalpur Underpass, which was dedicated to the people today, has been completed two months before time & in `26 crore less than the sanctioned budget. This is how development is done,” the minister tweeted later.
The about 700-metre-long underpass has been constructed below National Highway (NH) 8. The two flyovers-600 metres and 400 metres long-- are located in Aerocity and Vasant Kunj, respectively.
A CPWD official said they faced several challenges in executing the project. “The underpass had to be constructed without diverting the NH traffic, therefore CPWD used the ‘box pushing’ technique to make the underpass. There were rocks up to the height of four metres in certain portions, and they had to be cut to make way for the underpass,” he said.
Benefits
■ Decongest Mahipalpur village main road
■ Direct connectivity from Vasant Vihar to airport and vice-versa
■ Facilitate smooth movement from Vasant Kunj towards Gurugram, and from airport to Dhaula Kuan
■ Reduce travel time by approximately 30 minutes to and from airport to Vasant Kunj
■ Daily average traffic movement on Mahipalpur road is 38,419 passenger car units
Salient features
■ Opened before scheduled deadline
■ Saved H26 crore in construction cost
■ Conceived and built keeping principle of sustainability and environment friendliness in mind
■ Provision for rainwater harvesting