Digha-AIIMS elevated road gets December date
2 min readPATNA: The Digha-AIIMS elevated corridor, the completion of which is delayed by nine months now, is expected to be thrown open for vehicular movement by December.
The construction of 12.27km two-lane semi-elevated and four- lane elevated highway began in November 2013 and was targeted to end by September 16, 2017. The Bihar State Road Development Corporation Limited (BSRDCL), an executing agency of the road construction department, had given the contract for this Rs 1,231-crore project to Gammon India Pvt Ltd.
The elevated structure starts from NH-98 near AIIMS to terminate at Digha rail-cum-road bridge at the junction of Ganga Path.
According to a BSRDCL official, 86% of the work has been completed. He attributed the delay in completion of the project to land acquisition issues. “A private body was claiming to own a part of the land at Digha, where the elevation is supposed to descend. The case is pending in the Patna high, and we are expecting the matter to be resolved in another month,” said the official.
He also informed this reporter on Thursday that earlier the railways had an issue with the approval of the design of the super structure at Khagaul (Patna-Delhi line), but they partially cleared the project last month. A final clearance is still awaited, however.
“Once we get the final clearance, it won’t take more than three months to make it fully operational for commuters,” the BSRDCL office said, adding the construction work was also interrupted at Digha due to a high tension wire over the railway tracks.
A first-of-its-kind project in Patna, the elevated road project will connect the road-deck of Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge on the north-western corner of Patna with AIIMS-Patna at Phulwarisharif. Starting from AIIMS-Patna, the first 2km of the road has two lanes on a semi-elevated structure. Thereafter, the entire stretch is of four lanes.
The elevated road will prove a boon for commuters coming from north Bihar through Digha-Sonepur bridge. It will also act as a freeway for vehicles between Deedarganj and Digha.
The elevated corridor will have connectivity with NH-30, NH-9, Ganga Path and NH-19. “It will serve as the best option for people coming from NH-98 junction at AIIMS or from Phuwarisharif, and going to Sonepur. The travel time will be reduced to half,” the official said.
Courtesy: TNN
