NHAI hopeful of completing Sirhaul U-turn underpass by March, work on shifting toll gates to start

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Thursday said that the work on shifting the three toll collection lanes from Sirhaul toll plaza will commence from Monday and it will be completed within 10 days

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Thursday said that the work on shifting the three toll collection lanes from Sirhaul toll plaza will commence from Monday and it will be completed within 10 days. NHAI officials said that with the removal of this obstacle, the authority will be able to complete the underpass at Sirhaul plaza by March 15.

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The NHAI had got the nod for shifting of three toll gates from South Delhi Municipal Corporation at the start of the month, but the work was delayed due to the security measures taken by the police for Republic Day, said officials.

Gaurav Mittal, senior manager, NHAI, said that 90% of the work on the underpass project is completed and from Monday, they will start work on shifting the lanes. “We have already sent a letter to the traffic police regarding carving out traffic diversions so that the work can be carried out. The shifting work can be completed in 10 days and our plan is to open the underpass for traffic from March 15,” said Mittal.

There are nine toll gates operational at the border, of which gates numbered 4, 5 and 6 will be shifted further towards Delhi and operated from there, said NHAI officials. They added that the traffic diversions at the toll gate have been designed in such a manner that there would be no congestion.

The gates need to be shifted as the work on these would be affected when the authority starts building box-type structure for the underpass, officials said.

The underpass at Sirhaul toll plaza will help motorists from Gurugram avoid taking a long detour — till Rajokri in New Delhi to take a U-turn — to reach the Ambience Mall.

The flyover at Shankar Chowk, which is part of this project, has already been completed and is operational. The entire project is being constructed by the NHAI at a cost of ₹63 crore and the objective is to reduce congestion between Sirhaul, Shankar Chowk and Iffco Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

The NHAI has already got approvals for its estimate of ₹46 lakh for shifting the toll gates. The delay in this work had hampered the completion of the underpass project by almost one year, said officials, but they are hopeful to complete it by March.

The work on building the underpass and the Shankar Chowk flyover had commenced in March 2019.