An upcoming flyover connecting Anand Vihar in east Delhi with Apsara Border near Ghaziabad is set to miss another deadline, and is likely to be completed only by June this year — two months beyond its earlier deadline — Public Works Department (PWD) officials aware of the matter have said.
The 1.4km, six lane flyover is coming up on road number 56 — a key arterial road between Anand Vihar and Apsara Border — will cater to an estimated 148,000 vehicles daily, and will bypass three busy intersections, thereby cutting down travel time by approximately 12 minutes, officials said.
Construction work on the project started in September 2022, and the facility was expected to be completed by December 2023, but the deadline was initially pushed to April this year. At that time, officials had cited heavy traffic movement along the site of the project causing hindrance to work, as well as the construction ban imposed due to the graded response action plan (Grap) in November 2023. Subsequently, PWD minister Atishi inspected the construction site to express her dissatisfaction with the delay in the project, and directed the department to double the manpower and undertake night-time operations to expedite work.
However, with work on erecting the last remaining slabs entering the final stage, the flyover is now set to be complete only by June, officials said.
Spokespeople for the government did not respond to requests for comment on the fresh delay.
A senior PWD official said that the flyover comprises 33 pillars connected with concrete slabs. “The pending work is related to the slabs pertaining to the ramps going up and down the six-lane flyover. Work on erecting the pillars is complete, and only six out of the 32 concrete slabs are now pending. As per the current timeline, the three ramps near the East Delhi Mall will be completed by May, after which the trials will start. We hope that the traffic movement on the flyover will be fully operational by early June,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.
A second PWD official said that a study commissioned by the agency in 2019 to study the region revealed that 70% of traffic on road number 56 was for “non-destined” vehicles — those which are passing merely through the area — while only 30% was local.
“Approximately 148,000 vehicles are expected to pass through this flyover daily, providing local residents with significant convenience in commuting. Congestion levels for local residential areas will go down and commuting time for interstate traffic will go down by at least 12-15 minutes,” the official said.
“We will also develop two back-to-back U-turns at surface level for local traffic and two subways for pedestrian movement,” the official added. “During the construction of this flyover, various tasks such rebuilding of footpaths, signage, street lights, drainage and others will also be undertaken.”
However, the ongoing construction work has caused chaos, with girders narrowing what is already a very busy, congested stretch.
Chetan Banga, a commuter heading towards Kaushambi, said that after the completion of the flyover, it may lead to an easy ride back home, but over the last year-and-a-half, it has turned the commuting experience into hell. “There are no traffic police personnel or marshals deployed along the stretch. The Surya Nagar red light to Vivek Vihar red light is particularly troublesome. Heavy traffic jams have become inevitable due to the flyover construction,” Banga said.
Mukesh Srivastava, another commuter, said, “Massive congestions are observed during evening peak hours at the Vivek Vihar redlight crossing (Surya Nagar red light and Raghunath temple). The flyover construction work is creating a total mess and agencies are not following any basic safety traffic guidelines. It is a nightmare.”
