Ring Road stretch repair set to cripple south Delhi again

A railway overpass that is part of the Ring Road between Ashram and Lajpat Nagar will need crucial repairs, officials of the Public Works Department have said, detailing a plan that will likely throw traffic out of gear for large parts of south Delhi when the work begins.

According to a senior official who asked not to be named, parts of the Nehru Nagar overbridge (ROB) have developed cracks and need strengthening, while some other fitments need to be changed entirely. “The ROB needs urgent repair as the piers and the deck slab (the base on which the road is built) have developed cracks. All the 12 expansion joints have to be replaced,” the official said. The agency, which is responsible for construction and maintenance of civic infrastructure under the Delhi government’s control, will send a request for funds to the government before tenders are floated.

The 600-metre bridge, the official said, is over 50 years old and the extent of repairs required was detailed in a report submitted to the PWD a few days ago by a consultant that carried out surveys earlier this year. It is likely to take three months before the work begins since tendering and the selection of a contractor takes time, and the Delhi Traffic Police will need to be involved for diversion plans.

The repairs could take six-to-eight months and while the work is being expedited, the damage does not yet pose danger, the person added.

According to traffic police officials, around 200,000-250,000 vehicles cross the overpass during rush hours every day. Previous repairs in the area, such as the one on the Lajpat Nagar flyover, led to traffic tailbacks as far long as a couple of kilometres. The worst hit were people living close to the stretch and those using it to travel between Noida and South Delhi.

At the time, one carriageway was closed, effectively halving the road in what commuters described as a nightmarish period with no available alternate routes.

Experts said the work on the Nehru Nagar ROB needs to be expedited. “It is important to repair the flyover immediately… The stretch is used by trucks and heavy vehicles. There is no other alternate road where this traffic could be diverted,” said Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning at the School of Planning and Architecture.

He said the PWD and the Delhi traffic police should plan the repair work in a manner that has the least impact on Ring Road traffic.

A second senior PWD official said that estimates put the cost of repair at around ₹15.5 crore. “We will finalise the estimate soon and send it for financial approval by the month-end. We will then float tenders for the repair work. We aim to start repair work within three months,” this person said, asking not to named.

A spokesperson of the PWD did not respond to requests for a comment on record.

The PWD will also write to the Northern Railways to repair a 50-metre part (out of the 600m) of the ROB since it falls under the railway’s jurisdiction. This is the only ROB on the Ring Road between Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway and Dhaula Kuan.

Delhi PWD has been carrying out surveys of flyovers and ROBs in the city since last year. “We decided to get a detailed survey of all old flyovers and bridges last year after problems were noticed in some like the ones on Lajpat Nagar and Akshardham. This was a very old ROB. We did a basic inspection last year after which it was decided to get a detailed study done by an expert group,” said the first official quoted above.

First Published: Oct 23, 2018 09:01 IST