The process to dismantle the infamous 5.8 kilometre-long Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)-corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand will finally begin in the afternoon as Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will kick off the process, along with PWD Minister Satyeandra Jain, and MlAs of the area.
The process of dismantling — to happen only at night — is expected to be completed by February 20 in two phases. While the first phase would consist of removing obstructions, such as dividers, bus stops, etc, the second phase would cost more and take longer as it would include redesigning of junctions and installing a new signaling system.
The PWD has also appointed a consultant to suggest road designing of the entire stretch. The consultant has invited suggestions from local residents and residents’ welfare association about the possible design and alignment of roads after BRT was dismantled.
Sources said dismantling work would take place between 11 pm and 6 am so that there is minimum, or no, impact on vehicular movement. A large component of the work is removal of bus stops and creation of a central verge that will be done using readymade barriers. The traffic police work will be largely restricted to managing the signaling once the existing system is removed.
The Arvind Kejriwal Government had in July 21, 2015, decided to scrap the controversial BRT corridor after it concurred with the general view that it was not serving the purpose it was constructed for and was, instead, leading to massive traffic jams.
After the decision, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said the BRT corridor would be scrapped considering public demand and the kind of accidents that have happened in the past.
Also, the BJP had demanded scrapping of the BRT corridor and it promised to dismantle it in its vision document for the Delhi Assembly polls.