Delhi govt plan: New look for key roads to NCR cities, airport in three months

According to officials in the Public Works Department (PWD), these three roads are considered key arterial stretches as they provide connectivity to the NCR cities of Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad, Badarpur and the IGI Airport.

“Work started last week. These stretches are also part of the 100-day action plan. Engineers and officials concerned have been directed by the new minister to repair these roads on priority within the next two months,” said a senior PWD official.

Work on these stretches has been pending for more than a year. Last week, newly elected Chief Minister Rekha Gupta held a meeting with the PWD officials and directed them to fix road issues.

The PWD, which maintains 1,400 km of arterial stretches, last year identified 6,671 potholes. The previous government promised to repair all potholes before Diwali and repair around 80 road stretches but the deadlines were not met and repairs did not take place.

Outer Ring Road

The 7.2-km-long stretch from Modi Mill flyover to IIT Flyover is surrounded by upscale areas like Greater Kailash, Malviya Nagar, Paschim Enclave, CR Park, Chirag Dilli, Pamposh Enclave. “As it is surrounded by these colonies, road widening is not possible… repairs have been pending for long. The department has plans to redevelop this stretch… and proposed an Integrated Corridor by doubling the half flyovers and connecting all six elevated corridors on this stretch… Approval is awaited…,” said a senior official.

There are six elevated corridors on this stretch at Khel Gaon, Savitri Cinema, Chirag Dilli, Kalkaji, Modi Mill (Okhla ) and IIT.

Officials added that the entire stretch has potholes and broken surfaces, which leads to traffic snarls. “The stretch sees more than 2 lakh vehicles a day, including heavy vehicles, as it provides connectivity to Faridabad and Badarpur… Due to encroachment on roads and increasing vehicle population, the stretch sees constant bottlenecks. There are around eight traffic signals and intersections every 500-600 metres… and more than 10 potholes on a 50-metre stretch…,” said an official.

“As part of the first phase, work started on the IIT Flyover-Chirag Dilli flyover stretch on Sunday,” he added.

“As it is a very busy stretch, we get two-three hours in the night to carry out repairs… in phases… currently, we are scraping the road surface before laying a fresh layer of bitumen,” added the official.

In the next phase, officials will take the Chirag Dilli to Modi Mill flyover stretch.

Mayur Vihar stretch: Akshardham Flyover to Noida Border

Starting from Akshardham Flyover to Noida Border via Noida link road, the nearly 4-km-long stretch provides direct connectivity between East Delhi, Noida, Central as well as North Delhi and Kashmere Gate ISBT.

The corridor also sees high pedestrian footfall as it is home to the Akshardham temple and a popular point from where private interstate buses pick up passengers.

After residents and commuters flagged the poor state of the road, approval for repairs was given at the beginning of 2024 and scraping work began in October. A 200-metre stretch was scraped, but work came to a halt due to the ban on construction following air pollution.

“There are no restrictions now and repair work on the Mayur Vihar flyover towards Noida has started. As it is a busy stretch and sees nearly 2 to 2.5 lakh vehicles every day, we are repairing one lane at a time. Once the elevated stretch is done, work on the carriageway below will start without traffic interruption,” said a senior official.

Last week, PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh also visited the Mayur Vihar flyover stretch.

Bhairon Marg

This 4-km-long Ring Road stretch starts from the Bhairon Marg intersection, goes till Sundial Road near Maharani Bagh in Southeast Delhi and connects Central and Southeast Delhi areas via Sarai Kale Khan, Pragati Maidan and ITO where the CM and Ministers sit.

Scraping work has begun. “As part of the repair and strengthening work, all issues — from potholes, broken surfaces, bumps — will be fixed… Important areas like Pragati Maidan and ITO are connected through this stretch,” said a senior official.