For lakhs of commuters who get stuck for nearly an hour at the Ashram Chowk flyover every day, the sight of workers carrying out repairs on half of the carriageway is rather annoying because they believe the work on the expansion joints could have been completed expeditiously had more men and material been deployed.
“It takes me nearly two hours to travel from Noida to Lajpat Nagar daily and vice-versa because of the slow pace of work on the flyover. The traffic jam extends for miles and god forbid if a vehicle were to break down, it takes ages to come out of it,” said Himanshu Rath, who runs a non-government organisation.
He is one among many who believe the Public Works Department could have done better by deploying more teams to carry out the repairs . “It is common sense that instead of one team, if you put six, they would be able to complete six days’ work in one day. In this case it would have resulted in saving of fuel and man-hours worth millions of rupees.”
The Ashram Chowk Flyover on the Ring Road is one of the busiest sections in South Delhi as it stands at a point where traffic from Ring Road, Mathura Road and Noida converges. The work on the flyover that links Sarai Kale Khan with Lajpat Nagar is expected to be completed by October 15.
While a senior PWD official said that work had already been completed in one direction from Lajpat Nagar to Sarai Kale Khan, one-half of the opposite direction is now closed for the replacement work.
During peak evening hours, however, vehicles can be seen stranded along the route where work is being carried out.
“We have deployed maximum manpower and machines as much as we can accommodate on that stretch. It was decided as per availability of space to conduct the drilling operation to chip off the concrete, remove the old, and fix new modular slabs,” said the official.
Earlier the PWD had said that it was using ‘micro-concrete’ slabs for replacing the 10 expansion joints in two carriageways.
PWD secretary Arun Baroka had said that normally concrete slabs take a week to gain strength of up to 30 MPA before the area could be opened for traffic.
With the use of micro-concrete slabs the strength is achieved in 24 hours, said officials.
“Through deployment of additional machinery and round-the-clock work, the first half carriageway (DND-bound lane) was completed in 16 days. The work in second half of the carriageway is likely to be completed latest by this month,” Mr. Baroka had said in a statement.
