Delhi Metro restores and returns major arterial roads

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today said it had restored and handed back most of the arterial roads of the capital it had taken over for the construction of the second phase of the Metro project.

A spokesman for the DMRC said it had already restored more than 30 km of roads and was expected to complete the handing over of all roads under its occupancy withinn the next month.

He said a total of 45 km of roads were affected due to the construction of the Phase II of the Delhi Metro project.

While 30.36 km of roads have already been handed over, another 3.6 km of roads have been restored and are ready to be handed over to the civic agencies which were maintaining them earlier, the spokesman said.

A 4.40 km long stretch of the Vikas Marg, an arterial road connecting ITO with East Delhi was handed over to the Public Works Department (PWD) in February. The Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar Metro corridor passes through this stretch of Vikas Marg.

The Mehrauli – Gurgaon Road on the southern fringes of the city acts as an important connection between Delhi and the satellite city of Gurgaon. The Qutub Minar – HUDA City Centre corridor of the Delhi Metro mostly passes through this road. A 6.80 kilometre stretch of this road, which was affected due to Metro construction, has been restored and handed over to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in February.

A 350 metre stretch of the Baba Kharak Singh Marg, connecting the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara and the Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) outer circle was closed for traffic from one side in March 2008 for the construction of the Airport Express Link. The road has been entirely relaid and opened for traffic. It has been handed over to the New Delhi Municipal Committee for their street scaping work ahead of the Commonwealth Games, which the capital is due to host in October this year.

Portions of the GT-Karnal Road, which connects important landmarks of the city such as Delhi University and the wholesale vegetable and fruit market in Azadpur, were also taken up for Metro construction on the Vishwavidyalaya – Jahangirpuri corridor. The road was restored to its original position and handed over in September last year.

A busy stretch between Dhaula Kuan and RTR flyover on National Highway 8 was also affected due to the construction of the Airport Express Metro link. The stretch has been repaired and will be handed over early next week, the spokesman said.

Some other important roads such as the Press Enclave Road in Saket and the East End Apartments Road in New Ashok Nagar have been completed and offered to PWD for taking over, he said.

A few other roads such as Humayun Road, Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, a section of Mathura Road, Rohtak Road, Rafi Marg and Raisina Road are also being repaired and restored. All these roads will also be handed over to their respective authorities by the end of next month, he added.

NNN