The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Thursday opened the newly constructed six-lane Vasundhara flyover, which will help ease traffic congestion at the erstwhile Vasundhara crossing and on the Mohan Nagar-Anand Vihar Link Road. The facility was inaugurated by Ghaziabad MP Gen (retired) VK Singh.

According to officials estimates, the 586-metre-long flyover will cater to about 80% traffic on the Link Road. The project, which was started in April 2018, got completed on May 15 this year with an estimated cost of Rs 65 crore. The project cost also includes the cost of utility shifting, GDA officials said. The flyover has three lanes on each side.

With the opening of the flyover, the officials have also proposed a new traffic circulation plan which will be put in place in coming days. The plan proposes opening the two new U-turns on either side under the flyover.

“The plan will be put in place in another 7-10 days after observing the traffic movement. About 80% of the traffic between Mohan Nagar and Anand Vihar will move over the flyover. The traffic between Vasundhara and Sahibabad will move under the flyover. For the purpose, we have created a small roundabout under the flyover where traffic police will be deployed to control vehicular movement,” VN Singh, authority’s chief engineer, said.

The officials said that if the traffic flow between Sahibabad and Vasundhara is more than expected, they will install traffic signals to regulate traffic flow.

“We also have side lanes on the Link Road, apart from the flyover, for vehicular movement on the stretch. These lanes will be used by commuters who wish to move to Sahibabad or Vasundhara. We have also proposed that the other vacant area under the flyover on both ends will be used as U-turn. These will be used by commuters who wish to move to the other side of the Link Road. The construction material lying in the vacant area will be removed soon,” Singh said.

The flyover is constructed about 150-200 metres from the descending end (Vasundhara side) of the old Mohan Nagar flyover.

“The mid portion between the two flyovers is widely used by pedestrians. Vehicles coming from Mohan Nagar flyover will be speeding to the new flyover that may cause accidents. So, we have bridged the 150-200 metre area with the help of jersey barriers to disallow any pedestrian movement. The pedestrians will now use the existing foot over bridge to cross to the other side,” the chief engineer said.

The authority officials are expecting that the Delhi to Meerut side of the Raj Nagar Extension (RNE) flyover will also be opened by the end of June. The flyover also has three lanes on each side but there is a gap between the sides for up and down movement of vehicles. The median between the two sides will be used for construction of pillars for the regional rapid transit system (RRTS) project.

“Work on the RNE flyover is still going on. This will probably get completed in another 15-20 days. Once the one side is completed, we will open it for commuters. This will ease traffic congestion on the Delhi-Meerut Road,” Kanchan Verma, authority’s vice-chairperson, said.

The two flyovers — Vasundhara and RNE — have been built by UP State Bridge Corporation Limited.

First Published: Jun 07, 2019 14:58 IST