Underpasses too narrow to cater to heavy traffic

The three underpasses, which were opened on Saturday to decongest traffic on NH-24, are not going to serve the purpose. Commuters have claimed that the underpasses at Kala Patthar Chowk, CISF Chowk and ABES Engineering College are old-designed and will fail to cater to heavy traffic during peak hours.

The three underpasses, which were opened on Saturday to decongest traffic on NH-24, are not going to serve the purpose. Commuters have claimed that the underpasses at Kala Patthar Chowk, CISF Chowk and ABES Engineering College are old-designed and will fail to cater to heavy traffic during peak hours.

These underpasses, which were closed for many years, have been reopened after the authorities of Ghaziabad and Noida reached a consensus on the same.

HT Image

The underpass at Kala Patthar Chowk will allow vehicles from Indirapuram (Ghaziabad) to enter Noida via Sector 62. While CISF Chowk underpass will facilitate free flow of traffic from Vasundhara, Indirapuram and Vaishali to Noida’s Sector 63, the third underpass at ABES Engineering College will ease traffic from Crossing Republic mall to Shipra mall in Ghaziabad.

Alok Kumar, a resident of Indirapuram, said, “Reopening of these underpasses are useless for four-wheelers as all of them are too narrow. Even two cars from opposite sides cannot cross any of these underpasses at a time. To make best utilization of these passes, authorities should enforce one way traffic system through underpasses to avoid congestion.”

Motorists have also complained about darkness in addition to sharp turn in the way of Kala Patthar underpass. Maninder Singh, an auto driver, said, “The road leading to the underpass has sharp turns and the opening to Ghaziabad side is too narrow. I still prefer NH-24 route.”

Manoj Goswami, who commutes from Sector 58 to Vaishali, said, “Reopening of underpasses will give some relief to commuters, who waste hours in traffic jam at NH-24. Now we can escape NH-24 congestion to travel between adjoining cities.”

Commuters claim that the underpass at Shipra mall is a better solution to avoid NH-24 congestion, but people avoid it due to its poor condition. Neither GDA nor the Noida authority has taken any initiative to maintain it despite repeated complaints about the potholes on the stretch.

After repeated complaints of traffic congestion near Shipra Mall underpass, which also led to heavy traffic jam on NH-24, authorities didn't work for permanent solution.

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Maninder Singh, an auto driver: The road leading to the underpass has sharp turns and the opening to Ghaziabad side is too narrow. I still prefer NH-24 route.

Alok Kumar, a resident of Indirapuram: Reopening of these underpasses are useless for four-wheelers as all of them are too narrow. Even two cars from opposite sides cannot cross any of these underpasses at a time.

Manoj Goswami, a motorcyclist: “Now we can escape NH-24 congestion to travel between adjoining cities.”