NEW DELHI: A plan to make Mathura Road and Bhairon Marg signal-free as part of the Pragati Maidan redevelopment project has hit the wall. The Archaeological Survey of India has reportedly denied permission to
PWD
to build underpasses on both roads, citing a conservation rule, according to which, no construction is permitted in a 100m periphery of protected monuments. Both roads run along two sides of Old Fort.
“There have been a couple of high-level meetings to discuss the plan after which ASI conveyed the decision to the ITPO management. We are now looking at other options such as re-routing of traffic or making a particular stretch one way and if nothing else works out, we will probably just have to shelve the plan,” said a government official.
While ITPO’s own redevelopment plan will remain unaffected, the road redesign will be put on hold till an alternative plan is worked out. “There are three underpass proposals, which will get impacted, including those at the Bhairon Marg -Mathura Road intersection and the Mathura Road-Sher Shah Road intersection. The traffic situation on this stretch is already in a mess and when there is an event at Pragati Maidan, the road is almost unusable,” the official added.
Under the ITPO redevelopment plan, there is a proposal to provide direct access to the upcoming underground parking lot to visitors. This was to be achieved through a series of underpasses and loops designed to render the stretch from Sundar Nagar to Supreme Court signal-free.
As part of the plan, a tunnel to take traffic from Purana Quila Road to
Outer Ring Road
will be excavated under Pragati Maidan. It may later be extended to
Geeta Colony Road
near the Vikas Marg loop.
According to the original redesign plan, two parallel tunnels on Mathura Road, just after the Bhagwan Das Road crossing, were to accommodate traffic approaching Pragati Maidan from opposite ends. One tunnel would provide access to the underground parking for those coming from Purana Quila Road. Another tunnel near Bhairon Marg would allow traffic coming from Sundar Nagar to go straight towards ITO. Yet another tunnel was to be constructed for traffic turning right to Bhairon Marg, from which an arm will extend toward the Pragati Maidan parking. A parallel tunnel road on Bhairon Marg would have connected with Mathura Road.
Further down, at the Sher Shah Road crossing, underground access was to be provided to traffic coming from the high court and turning right toward Mathura Road.
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