Iffco Chowk flyover to remain shut till Friday for repairs

Officials said that the repair of the flyover would start from Wednesday morning and traffic flow is likely to resume on Saturday

The Iffco Chowk flyover on the Delhi to Jaipur side is likely to remain shut till later this week for repairs after a retaining wall of the flyover collapsed on Monday due to water damage.

A sewage pipeline under the flyover was damaged due to the heavy flow of rainwater over the weekend and led to water accumulation that subsequently caused the collapse of the retaining wall. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that a sewage pipeline passing under the structure was repaired by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority on Tuesday. The sewage pipeline was damaged due to the heavy flow of rainwater over the weekend and led to water accumulation that subsequently caused the collapse of the retaining wall.

Officials said that the repair of the flyover would start from Wednesday morning.

“The traffic on the flyover will remain closed for the next three to four days and during this time, we will build a raft on the drain below and construct concrete pillars to support the retaining wall to prevent such incidents in the future. Given the condition of the pipeline, we have also decided to pour concrete at the spot,” Saurabh Singhal, an NHAI consultant, said.

NHAI officials said that they expect the traffic flow to resume on the flyover by Saturday.

The flyover, which runs parallel to the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, was completed in 2019. It was part of a larger project launched in 2016 to build underpasses and flyovers at Rajiv Chowk, Signature Chowk and Iffco Chowk, important intersections on the expressway.

On Monday, officials of Gawar Constructions, the contractor for the flyover, had said that they will start the repair on the flyover once the sewage line was repaired by the local authorities.

The L-shaped underpass at Iffco Chowk was also constructed by the same contractor. In 2019, the roads on both sides of the L-shaped underpass had caved in after sewage pipelines overflowed following heavy rains in the National Capital Region.