From tomorrow, take Singhpura flyover for Chandigarh to Dera Bassi travel
Roller coaster flyovers, hair-pin bends, cuts, underpass and potholes — officials of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) are having all the fun on the 2-km stretch in Zirakpur.
The NHAI is set to throw open one side of the Singhpura flyover for traffic from October 28. The movement of vehicles from the Chandigarh to Dera Bassi side will be facilitated to ease out the congestion on the busy national highway. The only hiccup is that the NHAI plans to use the flyover meant for Dera Bassi-Chandigarh (opposite side) traffic for the opposite side till the time both sides of the flyover are ready.
The highway authorities are finishing off the remaining carpeting, cleaning and paint jobs these days with focus on creating smooth diversions on an arrow-straight road.
NHAI project director Pradeep Attri said, “It is a stop-gap arrangement to ease out congestion on this busy stretch till the time work is completed. The service lane currently being used will get a bit narrow, but it will also remain operational. We plan to start it by October 28.”
The flyover is hanging fire for three years now as a dispute between the NHAI and the landowner has put a spanner in the land acquisition. The construction work was completely stopped for around one year.
Residents and road users have been critical of NHAI’s half-hearted approach.
“First, they missed several deadlines, then they threw their hands up, now they are directing the high-speed traffic on the busy National Highway to the opposite side. Already, there is no count of road mishaps here. It remains to be seen how this experiment will turn out to be,” said Harpreet Singh, a resident at Nagla road.
In December 2021, the NHAI had set a time frame of 18 months for building the two flyovers at a cost of about Rs 43.28 crore, but the deadline has been breached several times.
