Finally, flyover to decongest Garkhal junction gets nod

Tribune News Service

Solan, August 23

A Chandigarh-based contractor has finally being granted the letter of intent to construct the much-awaited flyover slated to provide relief from a traffic-ridden junction at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road en route Kasauli.

Flyover lone solution

• The flyover will take off from near the bus stand at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road and extend across the valley to the far end of the Garkhal-Kasauli road. The 160m structure will have two piers and two abutments with the central pier being 85 m high
• With ribbon development, where buildings have been constructed in a continuous row along the road, there is little scope to expand the existing roads. Keeping this handicap in mind, a flyover was mooted as the lone solution

The HP Road and Infrastructure Development Corporation (RIDC), which is executing the Rs 22-crore project, was awaiting the administrative approval and expenditure sanction from the state government while all other formalities have been completed, informed RIDC Superintending Engineer Mahesh Rana.

“The contractor has begun the work and the corporation has already axed about 40 trees to pave way for its construction work like soil investigation. He will prepare its design after conducting other investigations,” informed Rana.

Financial bids had been received from three bidders which were evaluated by the RIDC. Bids had been invited for the second time after the state government did not approve a single bidder, which had qualified in 2023. This had delayed its execution of the project by nearly a year.

Larsen and Toubro had surveyed the junction in June 2022 and an estimate of Rs 27 crore was prepared initially. However, the amount was later reduced to Rs 22 crore.

The flyover will take off from near the bus stand at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road and extend across the valley to the far end of the Garkhal-Kasauli road. The 160 m structure will have two piers and two abutments with the central pier being 85 m high.

With ribbon development, where buildings have been constructed in a continuous row along the road, there is little scope to expand the existing roads. Keeping this handicap in mind, a flyover was mooted as the lone solution.

Five roads converge on Garkhal junction from Kasauli, Dharampur, Brewary, Jagjitnagar and Sanawar. The single narrow lane road which has not been widened is unable to withstand the voluminous inflow of traffic, especially during the peak tourist season.