To ease congestion, govt plans to widen single-lane flyovers

The flyovers at Moti Nagar and Punjabi Bagh were constructed in 2005.

“But traffic congestion on the Ring Road has led the Public Works Department (PWD) to consider widening these flyovers,” an official said.
The feasibility study — in terms of projected increase in traffic flow 15-20 years ahead — carried out in 2005 before these flyovers were constructed did not project the need for double-carriageway flyovers in the coming years, the official said.

“Usually, under earlier practices, we used to construct single flyovers along T-points to allow uninterrupted flow of straight-moving traffic. Even the feasibility studies, which usually take into consideration increase in traffic over the next 20 years, did not foresee such a requirement at Moti Nagar and Punjabi Bagh,” he said.

The PWD is in the process of hiring a consultant, which will also look at the proposal to widen the Moti Nagar and Punjabi Bagh flyovers. “The consultant will look into overall improvement of traffic flow from Raja Garden to Punjabi Bagh. This may include joining the Moti Nagar and Punjabi Bagh flyovers, besides adding another carriageway to both these flyovers,” the official said.

In all, there are 76 flyovers in Delhi designed to provide signal-free movement in the city, but with around 1,400 cars added to its roads every day, traffic congestion has increased drastically in Delhi. Over the last decade, the number of vehicles in the Capital has jumped by a phenomenal 97 per cent.

A plan to construct another flyover along the existing single carriageway at Savitri Cinema near GK-II is also under consideration. “It is at a proposal stage and requires clearances from other infrastructure agencies,” the official said.

The RTR flyover, which was constructed as part of the Commonwealth Games projects, was originally planned as a three-lane, one-way facility from the airport to IIT. With bottlenecks reported on the grade level from IIT to the airport, a parallel flyover will be constructed along the flyover despite resistance from a handful of Palam Marg residents, whose bungalows face the road.