Shorter route to airport: GMADA takes soil samples, construction to begin in Sept

The around 5-km stretch will allow commuters from Chandigarh and Mohali to head to the airport via the road in front of Bawa White House, instead of taking the longer route via Airport Road

The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has collected soil samples for construction of a shorter route to the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport via Mohali’s Sector 66-A and sent them to the public works department (PWD).

At present, commuters have to head all the way to the T-junction near the Indian School of Business, after passing by Bawa White House, to turn left towards Airport Chowk, where they again have to turn left towards the airport. (HT File Photo)

The authority plans to float tenders for the project by August month and begin construction in September.

The 164-foot-wide road is part of the Mohali Master Plan. The around 5-km stretch will allow commuters from Chandigarh and Mohali to head to the airport via the road in front of Bawa White House, instead of taking the longer route via Airport Road. This will bring down the 18-km distance from Tribune Chowk, Chandigarh, to the airport in Mohali by more than 5 km.

Estimated to cost around ₹30 crore, the new road will be around 5 km long and also feature a bridge.

GMADA chief engineer Balwinder Singh said soil samples had been collected and sent to PWD. “The report is expected within a week, following which tenders will be floated in August and construction is expected to begin in September,” he said.

At present, commuters have to head all the way to the T-junction near the Indian School of Business, after passing by Bawa White House, to turn left towards Airport Chowk, where they again have to turn left towards the airport.

Tejinder Singh Bhatia, managing director, Aeropolis City, Sector 66-A, said the new road will help ease traffic bottlenecks on the present Airport Road. “It will prove a boon for people travelling to airport, Aerocity, Rajpura, Ludhiana and Delhi. It passes through Sector 66-A and will increase connectivity to IT City and Aeropolis City too,” he added.

No progress in Chandigarh route

Along with GMADA, the UT administration is also planning a parallel shorter route to the airport via Chandigarh’s Sector 48.

However, nearly two months after the Punjab government agreed to acquire the required land falling in Mohali for the route, there has been no progress. The new road will start from the T-point intersection of Vikas Marg in Sector 48 (coming from Sector-43 ISBT) and Purv Marg (coming from Tribune Chowk).

The current distance from this intersection to the airport is 11.5 km after traversing through Mohali. The shorter route will reduce this to around 3.5 km, thereby bringing the travel time down from 25 minutes to 5 minutes.

A total of 56 acres need to be acquired for the project of which 42 acres fall in Chandigarh and the remaining 14 acres in Punjab’s Jagatpura and Khandala villages.

“We are in the process of demarcating the land and are working to expedite the project,” said CB Ojha, chief engineer, UT.