After missing several deadlines over five years, the Ludhiana link of the Chandigarh-Kharar flyover project was finally thrown open to traffic on Saturday, while the Rupnagar link is expected to get completed by January 15 next year.
Anandpur Sahib member of Parliament Manish Tewari inaugurated the link in presence of Kharar sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Himanshu Jain.
“We opened the Ludhiana link over the Kharar bus stand at 11.30.am. But, due to some confusion among commuters, we closed it for nearly two hours and reopened it later. The Rupnagar link will also be opened by January 15,” said SDM Jain.
The 1-km Balongi stretch (called the Balongi flyover) was the first to be opened in October.
With two links of the flyover now open, the project is 91% complete. It entails widening of the road between Balongi and Kharar T-point and construction of two flyovers and three minor bridges. The total length of the flyovers (divided into three parts) is around 10km.
The national highway where the flyover is located connects Chandigarh to parts of Punjab, besides Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. This leaves Kharar as a major bottleneck, as about 50,000 vehicles cross the stretch on an average daily.
{{/usCountry}}The national highway where the flyover is located connects Chandigarh to parts of Punjab, besides Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. This leaves Kharar as a major bottleneck, as about 50,000 vehicles cross the stretch on an average daily.
{{/usCountry}}The Rs 368-crore project, being executed by Larsen & Toubro, was initiated in November 2015 and has missed six deadlines, after initially slated to be completed in three years by December 2018.
From delay in land acquisition to other administrative hurdles and mostly recently workforce issues amid the Covid-19 pandemic were the main reasons for the delay.