Delhi’s Ashram flyover reopens today, only light vehicles permitted initially

A two-month-long closure and several missed deadlines later, the Ashram flyover and its extension, which meets the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway, will be opened for commuters on Monday, said Delhi government officials aware of the matter — a move which is expected to significantly ease traffic snarls at the busy intersection as well as across the southern, southeastern and central parts of the Capital.

The flyover will be inaugurated by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the state’s new public works minister Kailash Gahlot at noon on Monday, said a government spokesperson aware of the programme.

MLAs from surrounding assembly areas, including Amanatullah Khan from Okhla and Praveen Kumar from Jangpura, are also expected to be present.

The flyover will be thrown open to the public at 5pm, according to an advisory issued by the traffic police on Sunday evening.

However, the public works department (PWD) and Delhi traffic police have decided that only light vehicles will be allowed to use the facility initially.

Officials did not reveal when heavy vehicles — the traffic advisory only mentions trucks and buses — will be allowed on the route, as they said it will require shifting high-tension wires and poles. The advisory said that commuters using the Barapullah flyover are now advised to use the Ashram flyover.

“Only light vehicles coming from DND and going towards Gurugram, Chirag Dilli, Kalkaji, GK, AIIMS, INA, Dhaula Kuan, etc., are advised to take Ashram flyover instead of Barapullah,” the advisory said, also urging commuters in the opposite direction to take this corridor.

Commuters coming from Sarai Kale Khan are still advised not to use the Ashram flyover and they should plan their journey as usual, the advisory added.

The Ashram flyover is a key bypass that helps vehicles travelling avoid using the busy intersection of Mathura Road and Ring Road, a junction frequented by 350,000 vehicles everyday. The flyover was shut from January 1, initially for a 45-day stretch, as authorities worked to link it with the extension a few metres ahead.

However, this closure was extended till the end of February, because of slow progress of work attributed to heavy traffic on the stretch, compounding the overall traffic mess in the city, with commuters kept crawling well beyond their usual travel times, owing to poor roads and a host of under-construction infrastructure projects. Some of these projects include the doubling of the Sarai Kale Khan flyover and the Bhairon marg T-junction underpass.

A senior PWD official overseeing the Ashram project said that while the basic civil structure of the 1.4 km-long extension is ready and the site is now being cleaned up, the work on remaining associated infrastructure like street lights, road markings, signage and other facilities will be completed over the next month.

“The main carriageway is complete and we are preparing the site for inauguration on Monday,” the official said. The overall length of the flyover, including the existing one and the extension, will now be around 2km.

When HT visited the site on Sunday evening, PWD workers were removing construction material stored on the carriageway of the old Ashram flyover, repairing damaged patches, whitewashing the parapet walls and adding street light connections. Last-minute additions were also being made to the entry point of the flyover, like the installation of overhead barriers to prevent heavy vehicles from entering.

A traffic police officer deployed on the site, requesting anonymity, said that buses, trucks and goods carrying vehicles will continue to use the surface level roads till the remaining work is completed. “There are high tension wires and electricity poles abutting the flyover section near the Kilokri village. They will have to be shifted before allowing the heavy vehicles. Only cars and two wheelers will be using the facility for the time being,” the officer added.

Special commissioner of police (traffic) SS Yadav said, “We came to know that some alignment work of electric poles towards Kilokri is still pending. But it will not have much effect on traffic on the flyover,” he said.

The 1.42-km long six-lane flyover designed to resolve the congestion between the Noida and Ashram intersection was initially expected to be completed in 12 months with an initial cost estimate of ₹128.79 crore.

As per the latest status report the agency has spent ₹142.54 crore on the project. While the proposal for extension of the flyover was approved by the Delhi Cabinet in November 2019 and its foundation stone was laid by Kejriwal in December 2019, the work could not start due to Covid-19 lockdown.

The work was awarded in June 2020 with an initial completion deadline of one year but shortage of labour and difficulties arising during the lockdown further delayed the construction work for eight months. The work on the project was once again disrupted during the second wave of Covid in April-May 2021 and winter construction bans.