Kharak Singh Marg opens for traffic

Wednesday , Mar 03, 2010

One of the Capital's busiest roads, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, that had been partially closed to facilitate construction of the upcoming new Airport Express Line by the Delhi Metro railway has been thrown open to traffic from Wednesday.

According to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation officials, a new road with two lanes for traffic on both sides has been constructed at Baba Kharak Singh Marg following completion of the underground metro tunnel.

"The quality of the new road has been certified by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and its thickness has been approved by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai. To ensure that the quality of the road does not suffer due to water-ogging during monsoons, new drainage pipelines have also been laid," said a DMRC spokesperson.

The road has been handed over to the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) for landscaping work ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

DMRC officials said a 350-metre stretch of the 800-metre-long road connecting Gurdwara Bangla Sahib and Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place, Outer Circle) was closed to traffic from one side in March 2008 for construction of the Shivaji Stadium metro railway station building.

Traffic coming from GPO towards Rajiv Chowk (Outer Circle) was earlier diverted through Jain Mandir Marg via Shivaji Stadium, while traffic going from Rajiv Chowk to GPO was allowed to use one side of Baba Kharak Singh Marg.

"However, there were no traffic snarls or bottlenecks on the diverted stretch because of the cooperation we received from the Delhi Traffic Police and the NDMC authorities. Five traffic marshals appointed by DMRC manned the stretch round the clock to ensure smooth traffic flow during the entire construction period," said the spokesperson.

DMRC is also constructing a three-floor building of the Shivaji Stadium metro railway station, which is a part of the Airport Express Line running from New Delhi to Indira Gandhi International Airport and further extended up to Dwarka Sector 21, below Baba Kharak Singh Marg which consists of platform, concourse and mezzanine levels. The station building will also have integration with the proposed headquarters of Air India, which will come up at the same place.

Original news source http://beta.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article138938.ece