GURUGRAM: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on August 21 received bids to build the
underpass at
Ambience Mall and the unidirectional flyover at
Shankar Chowk. The authority will evaluate the bids over a month and then award the work, which is scheduled to be completed in 18 months.
Currently, to reach Ambience Mall from Gurugram, commuters have to drive ahead to Rajokri in Delhi and take a U-turn under the flyover, while commercial vehicles have to pay Delhi municipal tax at the Kapashera border as well. NHAI Gurugram project director Ashok Sharma said, “Bids have been received for this project and work will start soon.” TOI has learnt the project work will begin before
Diwali.
According to NHAI, the underpass at Ambience Mall will be 377m-long with a four-lane grade separated U-turn from 23.438km to 24.446km. A 455m-long three-lane grade separated U-turn flyover (Shankar Chowk) from 25.684km to 26.123km has also been planned. According to NHAI, “The flyover at Shankar Chowk will be similar to the unidirectional flyover at Iffco Chowk. Commuters coming from Cyber City and wanting to take a U-turn to Delhi, can do so at this point.”
It has also been revealed that 559m-long and 7m-wide service road will be made for the underground U-turn at Ambience Mall, and a 490m-long and 7.5m-wide service road for the elevated U-turn at Shankar Chowk. NHAI has also decided to build bus bays on both sides of the underground U-turns. However, missing in the project are the two foot overbridges (FoB). Earlier, NHAI officials had decided to construct FoBs for pedestrians at either U-turn, but they are missing from the detail project report (DPR).
Estimates have been made for flow of traffic at both U-turn underpass and U-turn elevated road. The average ‘passenger car unit’ (PCU), a measure of traffic density, for underground U-turn will be 4,880 PCUs during morning peak hours, while it will be 3,727 PCUs for the elevated U-turn. “A significant point about the DPR is there is no land acquisition involved. The U-turns are proposed on land parcels adjoining
NH-8 in case of Ambience Mall and adjoining a Huda green belt in case of Shankar Chowk,” said the DPR.
The cost of building the underpass will be shared between NHAI (50%), Ambience and DLF Limited (25% each). For the elevated U-turn, GMDA has proposed a 1:3 share of costs with NHAI. GMDA CEO V Umashankar said, “For the elevated U-turn at Shankar Chowk, NHAI will contribute 75% and GMDA 25%.”
In July, Udyog Vihar industrialists had met NHAI officials and asked them if the U-turn at Shankar Chowk can be shifted further away, or made into an underpass, but both were rejected. Colonel Raj Singla of the Udyog Vihar Chamber of Industries said, “We had a meeting with NHAI and asked them to shift the elevated U-turn from Shankar Chowk, further down towards Iffco Chowk. But till now, there is no response from their side.” When approached, NHAI officials dismissed the proposal, saying, “We can’t shift the alignment of the elevated U-turn.”
