A yr late, underpass on Noida e-way may be ready in a mth

Noida: Delayed by over a year, a 10.3km-long underpass on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway is likely to be completed by January next year.
The construction of the underpass — located near Advant Tower in Sector 142 — started in June 2020, just when things had started to ease after the first lockdown. The initial deadline to complete the project was December 10 last year, but work got held up because of various reasons.
While the pandemic cast a cloud on the construction work, a road cave-in also slammed the brakes on the progress of the project for two months. Not only were several deadlines missed, the project cost also escalated from Rs 43.2 crore to Rs 46.9 crore.
Officials said that almost 90% of the work was done. The underpass is being built using ‘box-pushing’ technique, which allows construction with minimum impact on the nearby traffic.
A 45m barrel on one side of the underpass is already complete, while work on a 20m stretch on the other carriageway is being done. Sheet piles are being used to ensure the road does not cave in again.
Just four months ago, the road around the construction site had sunk, causing a crack that was about 15ft long and 2ft wide. Since traffic was anyway thin around the area, the cave-in had little effect on the movement of vehicles then.
An inspection of the site was done. The box-pushing work stopped, while other construction continued.
It was only four days ago that the box-pushing work resumed with sheet piles.
Among the work that is left is the retaining wall of a drain that is about 1km long. Its construction will start once work on the second barrel is over, officials said.
Once ready, the underpass will ensure better connectivity for the residents of sectors 135, 136, 137, 141, 142, 167 and 168 and the villages of Garhi Shahdara, Wajidpur and Mangrauli Chhaprauli.