Chirag Delhi flyover to be shut for repair work from March 12. Check details

Starting this Sunday, the public works department (PWD) will shut the Nehru Place-IIT Delhi carriageway of the Chirag Delhi flyover for at least 25 days to carry out repairs on the vital thoroughfare – a move that is likely to cause traffic chaos across south Delhi and severely inconvenience residents of Greater Kailash, Panchsheel Park, Chittaranjan Park, and Chirag Delhi, among thousands of others that cross the route daily.

Once complete, the opposite carriageway of the flyover will be shut for another 25 days, said officials, meaning that the complete project, and consequent mess, will extend to end-April, at least.

The closure is expected to lead to traffic jams on routes towards all major South Delhi colonies, including Malviya Nagar, GK, CR Park, Panchsheel Park, Sheikh Sarai, IIT Delhi and Vasant Kunj.

The Delhi traffic police, in an advisory on Tuesday, warned that the closure will adversely impact traffic volumes.

Also read: South, east, west, central: Much of Delhi to crawl amid flyover repairs

“The closure of carriageway may increase the volume of traffic on the road and inconvenience the general public, therefore commuters heading to railway stations, airports and hospitals are advised to plan their departure in advance and take alternate routes to avoid delays,” said the advisory.

The diversions are also expected to multiply the load on Ring Road and hit commuters headed towards the airport and Gurugram.

Repairs on the busy flyover, which allows commuters to bypass the congested intersection of Outer Ring Road and Josip Broz Tito Marg (also known as the old BRT corridor), have been pending for over a year now, said PWD officials aware of the matter.

The repairs were initially expected to begin this January, but were pushed back due to the closure of the Ashram flyover, which was only reopened on Monday. With traffic around Ashram intersection spilling on to Outer Ring Road, officials decided to hold the repairs off to avert the extant traffic mess around south and southeast Delhi getting worse.

The Chirag Delhi flyover is around 200m away from the Savitri Cinema flyover (which will also be shut for repairs, officials have said earlier), and is used by thousands of commuters every day, linking its neighbouring areas with other parts of south Delhi, as well as the Delhi airport and Gurugram.

A PWD official said that the extension joints of the flyover, which was built in 1992, will be repaired. “The heavy traffic movement on the flyover has led to its extension joints getting damaged. We need to undertake the repairs every 10 years to keep the structure, and commuters, safe,” the official added.

A second PWD official said repair material was procured and the contract awarded last year. The department, he said, was only awaiting a nod from the Delhi traffic police. “The traffic police earlier refused to provide a no-objection certificate due to Republic Day preparations, as well as closure of Ashram flyover,” an official added.

The traffic police have demarcated three diversion points in order to cut the vehicular load around the flyover.

SS Yadav, special commissioner of police (traffic) said that the repairs of each carriageway on Chirag Delhi flyover will take 25 days.

“While the repairs of the carriageway from Nehru Place to IIT Delhi Flyover will be taken up, the carriageway from IIT Delhi Flyover to Nehru Place will be operational and vice versa,” he said.

When asked whether PWD will be able to complete the deadline of 50 days, he said that the agency has been asked to complete it within the stipulated time, so that commuters don’t suffer.