The public works department (PWD) plans to shut parts of the Sarita Vihar flyover on Mathura Road in southeast Delhi for repairs and has asked the traffic police to make alternate arrangements.
A senior official of Delhi Traffic Police said that the PWD has apprised the traffic police that repair on Sarita Vihar flyover will be carried out for 60 days on the carriageways, in four phases, from the first week of May. However, the no-objection certificate (NoC) will be given once the PWD notifies a traffic management plan for the area during the repair.
“According to PWD officials, it will take 30 days to repair each carriageway. The stretch from Ashram to Badarpur will be repaired in the first and second phases, while the repair work will be carried out on the stretch from Badarpur to Ashram in third and fourth phases. However, the flyover will never be shut completely as half of a lane of the carriageway would be open for traffic,” the traffic cop said, asking not to be named.
The PWD has been asked to inform the public through media platforms at least a week before commencing the work, the cop said.
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The proposed partial closure of the flyover will affect thousands of daily commuters, triggering snarls along the busy Mathura road, besides residents of Badarpur, Jaitpur, Kalindi Kunj and New Friends Colony. Last year, Mathura Road and its adjoining stretches faced traffic chaos for nearly two months due to work on the Ashram flyover extension.
PWD officials said that the Sarita Vihar flyover was built in 2001, about 23 years ago, by the Delhi Development Authority and is in urgent need of repairs.
“There are seven parallel expansion joints along the flyover that need to be replaced. So, 28 such metal plates will be replaced, seven in each lane. Each carriageway will need to be closed for 25-30 days. After the expansion joints are replaced, there will be a concrete cover and blacktopping, followed by curing that will take about 10 days,” a PWD official said.
The PWD has sought approval to begin repairs along this flyover at least twice before in the last one year.
PWD officials said a similar strategy of closing just one lane at any given time was followed midway through the repair work along Chirag Delhi flyover, which had helped ease congestion to some extent.
