GMADA rethinks plan to build roundabouts on Airport Road

Despite its original goal of decongesting traffic and reducing accidents, the plan to construct three roundabouts on the PR-7 Road, better known as Airport Road, has itself run into unexpected roadblocks.

Over four months after the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) awarded the project to a private firm in July, Rahul Tiwari, administrative secretary of the housing and urban development department, Punjab, has raised concerns over feasibility of the roundabout construction work, citing heavy traffic flow on the road, and asked GMADA to review its decision.

In response, GMADA chief administrator Moneesh Kumar on Friday held a meeting with Navdeep Asija, traffic adviser to the Punjab government, to request a new plan for managing traffic diverted from the busy Airport Road during construction of the roundabouts.

GMADA had earlier consulted the Punjab Road Safety and Traffic Research Centre for ways to curb accidents on the major traffic artery.

After traffic and topographical surveys, the centre had proposed that two 56-metre-diameter roundabouts should be constructed at the Sector 68/69/78/79 and Sector 67/68/79/80 junctions, apart from a special dumbbell-shaped junction on the intersection near Sohana gurudwara.

Major road link to airport

The 200-foot-wide PR-7 road connects Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport to Mohali and Chandigarh.

Apart from being the only link to the airport for traffic coming from Punjab and Haryana, it also serves as a major traffic lifeline for vehicles moving from Mohali towards Zirakpur, Ambala and Delhi on one side, and Kharar, Rupnagar, Ludhiana, Anandpur Sahib and further towards Himachal Pradesh on the other side.

Most of the traffic coming from Delhi and Haryana, and heading towards Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh or vice-versa via Mohali also traverses through this road.

Due to its crucial role, PR-7 suffers from severe congestion. The ongoing sit-in at the Shambhu barrier near Ambala, blocking the key national highway connecting Delhi with Haryana and Punjab, is only creating additional pressure on the artery.

Thus, construction of the three rotaries, along with the already ongoing road widening and new road infrastructure projects in the area, would only create more gridlock, not less, say officials.

Another senior GMADA officer said after meeting with several stakeholders, it came to fore that constructing roundabouts on PR-7 Road may affect the underground storm drain network.

“If, during the rotaries’ construction, the storm drain system gets damaged, it will deepen city’s waterlogging woes. Also, if we start construction of roundabouts on PR-7 Road, it is not possible to divert its traffic to other roads, as five roundabouts are already under construction on 150-feet sector junction road, running parallel to it. Besides, road widening work is also underway on peripheral roads. Traffic will be completely choked if work to construct roundabouts on PR-7 Road starts in these circumstances,” said the officer while recalling the significant traffic disruption caused recently after the family of a murdered Kumbra youth blocked Airport Road at the Sector 68/79 intersection for almost three days.

Also, the foggy weather anticipated during peak winter will also pose major hindrance in the project, said the officer.

Notably, the composite work of construction of these three roundabouts, including civil, public health and electrical works, amounting to ₹11 crore was allotted by GMADA on July 17, 2024, with a deadline of July 16, 2025.

When questioned why the project was being reconsidered now after allotment of work more than four months ago, a senior officer said the engineering wing had been directed not to allot any work order without proper analysis.