E-Paper
Mohali: To curb road mishaps, GMADA to build eight roundabouts in a year
The development authority will open the tenders for the roundabouts on January 22, following which the work tenders will be allotted by the first week of February
With Mohali topping the charts in the tricity for maximum number of fatalities, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) is all set to construct eight roundabouts in the city in the first phase by January next year to curb road mishaps.
According to officials, GMADA last week called tenders for the construction of these roundabouts, located at major blackspots on Mohali roads.
Three roundabouts will be constructed on Airport Road which is the lifeline of traffic in the city, including at the Sohana Gurdwara junction, 78/79/68/69 Chowk and at 68/67/79/80 intersection.
Meanwhile, five roundabouts will be constructed at the 150 ft wide sector junction road going parallel to the airport road, including at Sectors 76/77/88/89 intersection, 77/78/88/87 intersection, 78/79/87/86 Chowk, 79/80/85/86 and 80/81/84/85 intersections.
The development authority will open the tenders for the roundabouts on January 22, following which the work tenders will be allotted by the first week of February.
“We have got the required administrative approvals and thus we will allot the work tenders by the end of January. These roundabouts are likely to be completed within a year, following which traffic will be much more streamlined in the city, which will enable us to curb road accidents here,” Amrinder Singh Tiwana, additional chief administrator, GMADA.
While seven of a total of eight roundabouts will be 60 metre each, the roundabout at 78/79/87/86 Chowk will be 80 metre due to its larger area of intersection and a high-tension tower installed nearby.
The roundabout at the Sohana Gurdwara intersection located on the 200 ft airport road will be dumbbell-shaped.
“The roads at these intersections will be made wider and curved, and slip roads will also be made there along with the construction of the roundabouts. The project will cost us over ₹30 crores,” another officer, who is part of the project, said.
Speaking in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha during the budget session in March last year, Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh raised concerns over the rise in road mishaps in the district and sought the construction of more roundabouts.
The MLA pointedly spoke about the Airport Road and Sector dividing road, terming these as vulnerable stretches of Mohali.
Singh said usually, there is a rush on one side of the traffic lights while the other side remains empty. Commuters don’t follow the traffic rules and jump signals as there are very few traffic cops deployed here, which makes it very important to have roundabouts in the city to slow down the traffic as every life is precious.
Former Punjab minister of housing and urban development Aman Arora, in a meeting chaired in November 2022, had directed the local authorities to convert light points across the city into roundabouts to streamline traffic and prevent road mishaps.
An officer shared that most of the roundabouts out of a total of 16 roundabouts in the pipeline, will be constructed on the road behind Sohana Gurdwara as the traffic is lean there, prompting commuters to jump traffic lights, which results in accidents.
“The purpose is to slow down the traffic, especially at vulnerable chowks, such as IISER Chowk and 10 black spots on the Airport Road. There are around six to seven roundabouts in Mohali as of now and there is a need to construct at least 10 roundabouts on the Airport Road alone,” a senior officer added.
The authorities have also involved state traffic adviser Navdeep Asija in the project.
In 2023, the district witnessed a total of 300 deaths in 500 road accidents while in 2022, 296 fatalities occurred in 494 reported road accidents across the district. Six areas, including Airport Road, Sohana, Kharar, Zirakpur, Lalru and Dera Bassi, witnessed a staggering 62% of the total road fatalities in 2022, as per police department data.
