The much awaited extension of the existing Ashram flyover till the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) Flyway to ease Ring Road traffic was approved by Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Mansih Sisodia on Friday. The project of Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre is worth Rs 125 crore.
Incidentally, the Delhi Government’s infrastructure wing Public Works Development (PWD) had proposed this extension in 2017. At that time, PWD officials had said the project was stuck due to procedural delay. The flyover extension plan was sent for financial clearance in 2016 and was finally cleared on Friday. It would take least one and half years to complete the extension.
The extension is pivotal in context of infra and growing traffic on Delhi-Noida and vice versa as more than 3,00,000 vehicles cross the intersection everyday as per the traffic police data.
Vehicular traffic in the area shot up after the DND Flyway was made toll-free in 2016 and with the widening of National Highway-24 in June this year. South Delhi-bound traffic from East Delhi and Noida uses this stretch.
According to PWD officials, this project will eradicate the congestion problem on Ring Road. The project plan extension of the existing flyover by six-lane elevated 1.2 km road which will touch down at the start of DND Flyway. The elevated road will split into two near DND, with one road going towards DND and the other towards Sarai Kale Khan.
Apart from this, the EFC approved redevelopment of Chandni Chowk from Jain Mandir to Fatehpuri Mosque, construction of 12,000 additional classrooms in schools and construction of integrated campus of GB Pant Engineering College and polytechnic at Okhla.