Shankar Chowk underpass reopens fully after 7 weeks

Gurugram: The unidirectional underpass at Shankar Chowk opened fully to traffic on Monday night, seven weeks after the facility was partially shut due to a massive

Gurugram: The unidirectional underpass at Shankar Chowk opened fully to traffic on Monday night, seven weeks after the facility was partially shut due to a massive cave-in near its exit.

HT Image

The underpass, which allows signal-free movement of traffic from Ambience Mall towards Iffco Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, had been shut since August 6 due to a leak in the master sewer pipeline passing below it, creating a five-foot-wide and 16-foot-deep hole. Due to this, the traffic had been re-routed via an adjoining service lane, leading to heavy congestion during peak hours.

“All sewerage related work is completed and our tests found that a future leakage in the pipeline running below will have no impact on the road surface. Hence, we gave a green light to DLF for opening the underpass fully,” said Lalit Arora, chief engineer, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

The GMDA owns the master sewerage line that developed a leakage, while the underpass is maintained by DLF.

DLF officials said that the patch where the cave-in occurred is yet to be covered by a bitumen coating.

“Due to the recent spell of rain, we have decided to defer bitumen related work for at least two weeks until the skies get cleared. The affected stretch was covered with a granular sub-base (GSB) last week, and our tests revealed it can sustain the weight of passing vehicles in the interim. Hence, the underpass has been reopened,” said a senior DLF official privy to the matter.