Hero Honda Chowk underpass under CRRI scrutiny

Gurugram: An underpass beneath the Hero Honda Chowk flyover, which became operational in May 2018 is now under the scanner of the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), which is conducting the structural audit of the flyover. A member of the investigating team from CRRI said that cracks have been observed in the underpass during the visual inspection and they will conduct further testing of the structure to check its integrity. Last month, the CRRI had started a structural audit of the Hero Honda Chowk flyover, after the bridge was damaged for the fourth time since it became operational.

The underpass at Hero Honda Chowk was constructed from 2014 to 2018 and it is 681.85 metres in length and 22.5 metres wide. The underpass has two carriageways of three lanes each.

A senior member of the CRRI team, who was on the spot at Hero Honda Chowk on Friday said, “The audit team has found cracks during the visual inspection and now we are checking the structure in detail. We are taking samples from the underpass and will conduct non-destructive tests. Core cutting has also been done to check the quality of concrete.”

The eight member CRRI team is led by Dr Naveet Kaur, senior scientist, CRRI. The team had earlier on Thursday collected samples from the Hero Honda Chowk flyover for testing. “The technical investigation of the bridge will be completed by this week and we will compile the report and submit it in a month,” a senior member of the team had said on Thursday.

Earlier, in the first week of January, a portion of the bridge on the extreme right lane from Jaipur to Delhi side lost plaster and concrete due to which iron bars were exposed and the road underneath the flyover was visible from the estimated 3 feet by 2 feet hole.

Following the incident, the NHAI on January 10 had announced an investigation by CRRI.

The construction of the Hero Honda Chowk flyover began in November 2014. The Delhi-Jaipur carriageway first opened in March 2017, while the rest of the flyover opened to traffic months later. It was constructed at a cost of ₹200 crore.

Since it became operational in 2017, the flyover has suffered major damages thrice in the past due to which the structure was closed to traffic, so that repair work could be carried out.

On April 23, 2018, the carriageway of the Hero Honda Chowk flyover from Jaipur to Delhi side had suffered damage after a large chunk of concrete fell from the bridge, leaving a 15 cm deep and 250 sq cm wide hole. The same carriageway was again damaged on May 8 in 2019, after chunks of concrete fell from the bridge, forming a hole on the road. In May 2024, also the flyover suffered a cave in after which a committee was formed to look into the issues plaguing the structure.