GURGAON: Nearly three years after its construction began in January 2019, the four-lane U-turn underpass near Ambience mall on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway, was opened to commuters on a trial run from Sunday. The underpass, officials said, would be formally opened to the public “if everything is in order” during the trial period that is likely to continue until Diwali.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has missed several deadlines, including the October 15 date announced by the Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, to launch the project that seeks to cut an additional 4-kilometre drive up to Rajokri in Delhi for taking a U-turn to get to Ambience Mall, DLF Phase-3 and adjacent areas.
“The point of opening the underpass for a trial run is to see whether everything is fine in terms of safety and convenience — if cars are moving properly or commuters are facing any trouble in terms of the speed at which their vehicles can move, whether the lighting is proper and also to ensure there are no types of interference inside the structure,” an NHAI official said on Monday.
During the trial run, the official added, the structure might be closed from time to time for undertaking rectification work or fix shortcomings. On Monday, too, the 377-metre-long underpass was closed for a few hours for electrical work, he added.
Constructed at a cost of Rs 102.94 crore, the underpass is part of a wider project aimed at decongesting the expressway.
Commuters travelling to Delhi and areas adjoining the Ambience mall, meanwhile, have expressed relief that the structure has finally been opened, even if on trial.
“The underpass has missed so many deadlines that we had all given up on it being completed anytime soon. It was, hence, a nice surprise for us to find that it was open when we were returning home after having dinner at a relative’s house on Golf Course Road on Sunday night. A journey that would normally have taken us around 25 minutes was reduced to barely 15 minutes. ,” Partha Chatterjee, a resident of Ambience Island, said.
