Chandigarh: Divert vehicles with no business in city, say experts

Inderjit Ghai says the long-term solution in Chandigarh is to divert the traffic which “has no business with Chandigarh” via a bypass ring road that has already been planned by NHAI, MORTH, GMADA and both the state governments of Haryana and Punjab. “All that is required is coordination between the central government, state governments and the departments of local bodies,” said Ghai.

One of these vital links is the Kharar-Banur-Tepla Road (NH 205-A), which connects Ambala-Ludhiana Road (NH 44) with Kharar-Ludhiana Road (NH 05) and Kharar-Kurali Road (NH 205). “This is the only solution to decongest the Tricity. A detailed project report of this road has already been prepared by the NHAI and the land acquisition process has been started. It can be taken up for execution immediately as all the preconstruction activities have been completed. This will be a direct link from the Chandigarh International Airport to Punjab, Haryana, HP and J&K,” he said.

Building a flyover at Tribune Chowk and subsequently at other junctions on Dakshin Marg is not a long-lasting solution, Ghai said.

A signal-free junction: Architect Tarun Mathur

A grade-separated intersection with roads passing over one another, with ramps to connect them holds the key. The ramping mechanism will allow traffic to flow from one or more sides without actually crossing it or without disturbing the movement of other traffic streams. The net result is a completely signal-free junction, which altogether avoids the need for traffic lights or the need to stop at the junction. “The graciously curving ramps and cascading levels of the proposed interchange, will be a landscape designer’s delight and with green grass, blooming flowers and maybe some sculptures, will be an inspiring entry to City beautiful,’’ says Mathur.

“The flyover as proposed by the administration is a simple uni-directional design which is the most basic configuration. It has been observed that uni-directional flyovers reach their capacity within 10-12 years and do not have lasting utility. The more advanced configurations like the diamond-type or the clover-leaf pattern have longer utility life even beyond 30 years,” he added.