Underpass at Loni to unclog north-east Delhi by December 2024

The Public Works Department (PWD) has initiated the process for the development of an underpass at the Loni roundabout near the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, officials aware of the project said on Thursday.

The Loni roundabout is considered as one of the busiest junctions in northeast Delhi due to the movement of heavy vehicles between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. PWD officials said the department on Tuesday invited bids for the construction of the underpass, which will cost an estimated ₹57.3 crore and will take around one-and-a-half years to complete.

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The underpass, they said, is one of three projects to decongest the 10km stretch from Signature Bridge to the UP border at Bhopura. The other two projects are a double-decker flyover between Bhajanpura and Yamuna Vihar, and a flyover from Nand Nagari to Gagan Cinema.

A senior PWD official associated with the project said the underpass will be located at the intersection of Mangal Pandey Road and Loni Road, and will be 555m in length.

“The length of the underpass ramp towards Loni border will be 230m, the ramp towards Durgapuri chowk (in the opposite direction) will be 265m, and the underground section in the middle will be 60m long,” the official said, adding that the underpass will be a four-lane structure with a 7.5m carriageway on either side.

However, the official noted that the construction of the underpass will not be a straightforward affair. “The construction will require shifting of a large number of utilities in terms of drains, water pipelines and power lines. The boundary wall of a power discom office will also be demolished during the project,” the official said.

Rakesh Garg, a chartered accountant who frequently travels on the route, said that Loni roundabout has been a perpetual bottle neck for commuters in northeast Delhi. “It is poor traffic management. It takes more than 15 to 20 minutes to cross just a 500m distance from petrol pump to golchakkar at Loni Road near RTO. Vehicles move in wrong direction and goods carrying vehicles add to chaos.”

A second PWD official said project had been hanging fire for more than a year. “The project report for the underpass was sent in March 2022 for administrative approval and budget allocation, and the expenditure sanction was granted in September 2022. The tenders are likely to be finalised by May-end, after which the work order will be granted. We are expecting that the underpass will be ready by December 2024,” the second official said, adding that the overall project will also have provision for improving nearby roads, pedestrian pathways, greening, and street scaping.

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Dr S Velmurugan, chief scientist, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), said, “Interventions are needed right at the planning stage to deal with congestion nodes around industrial areas such as Loni Border, which were once on the periphery of the city but are now in the middle of residential urban neighbourhoods.”

He added that the development of Signature Bridge as a connecting point between northeast Delhi and the rest of the city has increased the volume of traffic, and the three projects between the bridge and the Loni border will provide relief to local residents.