UP Link Road nears completion
It is the beginning of an end that Delhiites would welcome with arms wide open. The UP Link Road that connects the Capital with important satellite townships such as Noida, Vasundhara Enclave and the ever-expanding Mayur Vihar area is finally on the brink of completion.
It is the beginning of an end that Delhiites would welcome with arms wide open. The UP Link Road that connects the Capital with important satellite townships such as Noida, Vasundhara Enclave and the ever-expanding Mayur Vihar area is finally on the brink of completion.
Less than a fortnight after the Hindustan Times reported on the grave design faults and dangers lurking in the potholed carriageways of one of the most
crucial roads in the city, the Public works department (PWD) finally seems to have woken up and ‘corrected’ at least some of the wrongs on the indispensable stretch that is a lifeline for thousands of residents of Mayur Vihar, one of the first residential areas to be established in the Capital.
As HT had reported on January 14, the service roads on the stretch were discontinuous, potholed with sand and debris dumped all over. Construction equipment
and debris could be seen eating into half of the carriageway both on the Mayur Vihar Extension flyover and the stretch beneath.
However, when HT visited the stretch, which had claimed as many as 78 lives — mostly of pedestrians and drivers of two-wheelers in fatal road accidents in 2010, what used to be a depository of sand on either periphery of the stretch has been converted into a concrete cycle track with a pristine footpath to boot.
Construction material that had been strewn with reckless abandon on the Mayur Vihar Extension flyover has been removed and the carriageways, which were uneven due to incomplete road re-carpeting have been levelled.
However, the PWD still needs to go a little bit more, believes professor PK Sarkar, a senior road safety and traffic infrastructure expert, who had visited and commented on the engineering faults on the stretch.
“The Mayur Vihar Extension flyover should be completely made of concrete instead of just the ascent and descent points. Since the middle of this stretch has been constructed with bitumen concrete, it should be properly levelled, where the bitumen meets concrete. Road signage should always be in pairs — something that is still missing. This is necessary so that commuters can make their decision to ascend or skip the flyover in time,” said professor Sarkar who is currently with the School of Planning and Architecture.
PWD principal chief engineer AK Sinha said contractors often lose interest after completion of main flyover and engage their staff in other projects.
“But we are now building up pressure on the contractors to complete the project in all respect. Once pedestrian facilities such as bridges and footpaths are complete and the remaining signage are installed, the number of accidents would also come down,” Sinha said.