Noida: As work begins on Bhangel flyover, sector roads choke

NOIDA: A project aimed at facilitating seamless traffic in the city led to massive snarls on Thursday as construction workers placed girders on to pillars on the road.
The construction of the Bhangel elevated road led to diversion of traffic at the Barola T-Point. This caused massive jams in the adjoining 7X sectors and Bhangel.

Although residents weren’t surprised at a development project leading to snarls in the city, they were caught unawares because of the lack of any communication from the police in advance.
Ganesh Prasad Saha, the deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said they had initiated the diversion as girders were being placed onto the pillars using cranes. “It was because of the construction work that we had to stop the movement of traffic at the spot,” he added. The officer said cops were deployed at various points to guide the commuters. The diversion, according to him, will be in place for a week at least.
The Barola T-Point is an important junction that facilitates commuting from Noida to Surajpur in Greater Noida via DSC Road. Vishwakarma Road, which connects the 7X sectors with Hajipur, crosses the DSC Road. On Thursday, the police restricted the movement of vehicles from pillar number 59-60.
Those coming from Sector 62 and the 7X sectors and headed for Hajipur and the Noida-Greater Noida expressway will now have to take a U-turn near the Sector 50 metro station and continue with their journey. Commuters coming from the opposite direction will need to take a turn towards Sector 49 and then continue.
The 4.5km Bhangel elevated road will have six lanes and will ease traffic in the area once it becomes operational.
Caught in the snarl, commuters shared photos of vehicles trying to cross each near Supertech North Eye in Sector 74. Jitendra Kumar, a resident of Mahagun Moderne in Sector 78, was driving home from the Noida expressway when he was caught in the jam. “There were barricades on the road and a big diversion arrow, but no cop to guide the commuters. As vehicles tried to cross each other, they ended up causing a mess on the road,” he said.