Now drive non-stop from Vasant Kunj to Delhi airport

Union minister of state for urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday inaugurated an underpass below national highway-8 (NH-8) and two flyovers in south Delhi’s Mahipalpur and Aerocity, which will give signal-free access between Vasant Kunj to the Delhi airport.

The new route will free commuters heading to the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and Gurugram from south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj and Munirka from heavy traffic in the Mahipalpur area.

Delhi lieutenant-governor (L-G) Anil Baijal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ramesh Bidhuri were also present at the inaugural ceremony.

The underpass and the new flyovers, part of the Mahipalpur bypass project, on the Vasant Kunj-Mahipalpur stretch will cut the time taken to reach airport from Vasant Kunj, a distance of 8 to 9km, by approximately 15-20 minutes.

Till now, traffic to the airport mostly relied on two major stretches — the Rao Tula Ram Marg (RTR)-Outer Ring Road stretch and the NH-48 passing along the Delhi Cantonment from Dhaula Kuan. Traffic on both these stretches is usually heavy, particularly along the RTR where the delayed construction of a new flyover has reduced the usable space.

The project was started by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on January 23, 2018 and was scheduled to be completed in March 2019.

“Currently the commuters going to airport from Vasant Kunj road have to face massive traffic in and around Mahipalpur area. During peak hours, it takes around an hour to reach the airport from Vasant Kunj and other nearby south Delhi areas. These facilities will significantly reduce travel time to airport and Gurugram,” a senior CPWD official associated with the project said.

The officials estimate that the average daily traffic on Mahipalpur Road is around 28,000 vehicles and nearly 75% of this load was expected to be diverted on the bypass road.

Under the project, a 650-metre long underpass has been constructed below NH-8 near the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) office. A 400-metre flyover has been built near the northern access road (also known as airport approach road) in Aerocity and while another 600 metre flyover is constructed at the Vasant Kunj-Mahipalpur bypass intersection.

Both flyovers will be single carriageway, with the road beneath will be used for the opposite lane traffic.

The flyover in Aerocity will cater to the traffic moving towards Vasant Kunj via newly built underpass while the other one will be used for airport and Gurugram bound traffic coming from south Delhi areas.

To facilitate traffic towards Vasant Kunj from HN-8, a loop having two lanes have been constructed similarly a two lane-wide loop has been built to connect the underpass and NH-8 for Dhaula Kuan-bound motorists.

A statement released by the ministry of housing and urban affairs said that the project will result in saving of 30 lakh litres of fuel each year and reduce carbon footprint by 7,000 tonnes per year.

S Velmurugan, senior principal scientist in the traffic engineering and safety division at the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) said that the two bridges and the underpass would certainly give relief to airport and Gurugram bound traffic but the full impact would be visible only after the flyover on RTR Marg was completed.

“High speed traffic gets clogged at an under construction 2.7 km long flyover parallel to an existing one on RTR Marg. So we need to expedite the construction of this project if we wish to decongest the entire area,” he said.

First Published: Mar 01, 2019 08:33 IST