PATNA: The road construction department (RCD) on Monday decided to build bypass roads at 120 urban locations across the state under the Saat Nischay Part-2 programme to ease traffic congestion.
The CM on Monday gave his formal approval to the RCD’s proposal to build the 120 bypass roads during a meeting convened to review the works of the department. The meeting was attended by deputy CM Renu Devi and the RCD minister Mangal Pandey.
The plan is CM Nitish Kumar’s directive of providing a hassle-free drive so that anyone can reach Patna within five hours from anywhere in Bihar.
“The total length of these 120 proposed bypasses would be 708km and they would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 4,154 crore in the next four years,” RCD additional chief secretary Amrit Lal Meena told TOI over the phone.
He said of the total 120 bypasses, 31 would be built alongside national highways, while the rest 89 parallel to state highways and major district roads. “At some locations, the bypass roads would cross through elevated structures,” Meena added.
“While approving the proposal, the CM asked RCD officials to get the plan of all proposed bypasses formally sanctioned in the next two financial years and also ensure that the construction work of all 120 bypasses gets completed in the next four years,” Meena told TOI after the meeting.
These bypass links would be constructed under the ‘Sulabh Samparkata’ (accessible connectivity) component of the Saat Nischay Part-2 programme, he further said.
“The CM has also instructed that none of these proposed links has a width of fewer than 7 meters. The bypasses would be constructed with maximum possible width as per the availability of land and keeping in mind the requirements in future,” Meena said.
“Once completed, these bypass roads would help fulfil the CM’s directive of providing such a smooth driveway that any person can reach the state capital within 5 hours from any part of the state,” he added.
The CM also approved the RCD’s other ambitious plan to construct a new 11 KM long four-lane road from Saguna More to Sherpur in Patna district to end the perpetual traffic congestion on the road around Danapur Cantt.
“Of the total 11 km length, 2 km will be elevated four-lane road from Saguna More to the south-west side of the Danapur Cant, while the rest nine KM would be a greenfield new four-lane road project, to be built after acquiring land from the villagers. The new road would be built south to the existing Danapur Cant-Maner road and it would connect to the proposed Sherpur-Dighwara four-lane road bridge over Ganga river near Sherpur,” Meena said.
He said the greenfield four-lane road would be an alternative route for Bihta airport via the proposed Sherpur-Kanhauli six-lane ring road.
The CM also instructed RCD officials to expedite work on the proposed four-lane road bridge on Ganga, parallel to the existing Digha-Sonepur JP setu, near the state capital.
Earlier at the beginning of the meeting, Meena made a detailed presentation before the CM about the road and bridge projects being planned and executed by the RCD.