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Mohali: Airport Road to get zigzag barricades, rumble strips ahead of deadly ‘S’ curve
Rumble strips are grooves or indents on roads that are used to provide tactile and audible warning to drivers, before a potential danger. Tagged as a ‘black spot’, the curve, falling on the dividing road between Sectors 70 and 77 in Mohali, has seen 102 accidents since it was constructed in 2009, leading to 12 fatalities.
While the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) is yet to straighten the Airport Road’s deadly curve near Mata Sunder Kaur gurdwara in Sector 70, local police is all set to install zigzag barricading and rumble strips a few metres ahead of the curve to slow down the vehicles.
Rumble strips are grooves or indents on roads that are used to provide tactile and audible warning to drivers, before a potential danger. Tagged as a ‘black spot’, the curve, falling on the dividing road between Sectors 70 and 77 in Mohali, has seen 102 accidents since it was constructed in 2009, leading to 12 fatalities.
Accidents here form a major chunk of the overall mishaps on the 18-km Airport Road, according to Mohali police.
“We will slow down the traffic with barricading and rumble strips, before it reaches the curve. We are in touch with our traffic consultants and will take all possible steps to ensure road safety,” said Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Garg.
GMADA is still waiting to enter an agreement with the gurdwara management, which, in October, had decided to give up the land and relocate. GMADA’s engineering wing can commence work on straightening of the road only after the agreement has been signed.
GMADA will compensate the management with 3 acres in Sector 77, opposite Homeland Heights, along with ₹2.5 crore for construction of a new gurdwara.
“We will have to remove a water tank constructed near the site for which we have taken up the issue with the water and sanitation department. They will get it removed once we get into written agreement with the gurdwara management,” shared a senior GMADA officer.
The officer said that even when the GMADA authority has offered more land for the gurdwara than what the latter currently has, the Authority is still struggling to enter into a written agreement with the gurdwara committee.
While the layout plan for straightening out the road has been ready since April, on-site work was held up in the absence of a final agreement with the gurdwara management.
GMADA chief administrator Amandeep Bansal said, “We are in talks with the gurdwara committee and are trying to expedite the process as early as possible in order to straighten the curve to avoid accidents there.”
Prime land worth ₹21 crore per acre
The three acres to be provided to the gurdwara management is prime land located in Sector 77 along Airport Road. In an auction of sites at the same location in October 2020, GMADA had earned Rs100 crore from the sale of 4.6 acres for housing projects, making each acre worth around ₹21 crore. At the time of the Airport Road’s construction, a portion of land was not released by the gurdwara, set up by a particular sect head, forcing the government to build the road with an “S” curve.
