“Connectivity is productivity- whether it’s in a modern office or an underdeveloped village.” – Iqbal Quadir
This year, a 1.1 kilometer-long tunnel road corridor under Pragati Maidan, interfacing Ring Road will be a remarkable inclination point at the India International Trade Fair (IITF). The IITF will be held at Pragati Maidan in Delhi from November 14 to 27, with ‘Atamnirbhar Bharat’ as its theme. Authorities informed India Today that the design of the tunnel road corridor is approximately finished, and partial tasks are only remaining. The tunnel road corridor will ease the movement of vehicles in the Pragati Maidan area.
Gridlock on Delhi roads costs around $10 billion or about Rs 65,000 crore yearly because of dilapidation of fuel due to standing by of vehicles, loss of prolificity, air contamination, and road crashes, as indicated by a review done by IIT, Madras. As the vehicular populace increases in the capital, the review projects the blockage cost would increment to around Rs 98,000 crore by 2030 except if steps are taken to handle the day-by-day traffic disorder.
The tunnel road, the very first longest underground road corridor in the national capital, goes underneath Pragati Maidan, beginning close to the Purana Qila Road and finishing on Ring Road close to the Pragati Power Station. The underground road corridor will assist with lessening gridlock and permit traffic development easily.
Delhi Traffic Police have recognized the metropolitan alleviation roads in Delhi to back out the clog. These metropolitan alleviation roads will undoubtedly redirect the traffic from existing congested areas, yet the most extreme significance is dispersal and adjusting the whole road network in the impact region. The two choices proposed by Traffic Police are the 2 joining Ring Road and Mathura Road with destinations to decongest Mathura Road, Ring Road, and Indraprastha Marg and convergences in that. The Design Option Major provisions are as per the following:
- Four thousand six hundred committed ECS will decongest the on-road stopping issues.
- Parking tunnel exit has been given from all sides i.e., Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg, and Ring Road. This way will not congest any road. Additionally, the VMS sign and the controlled activity for leaving vehicles and adequate holding inlet for the section to the tunnel will deal with the course effectively.
- The burrow is furnished with 40 meters in length by 7.0 meters wide with IRC agreeable converging for crisis breakdown and security inside the tunnel.
- Telephone booths and CCTV cameras with VMS signs at the section of the tunnel to caution the road clients in front of the tunnel to burrow.
- As crisis estimates, all convergences on Mathura Road and Bharon Marg with Ring are given versatile obstructions for VVIP developments during formal capacities.
- The ventilation framework is panned through the tunnel as its length is more than 500 meters (IRC suggested).
- Drainage cut-off at section and exit are arranged reasonably for sewerage management.
However, critics express their fears of underpasses. After flyovers, the planners of the city need Delhiite’s to drive through tunnels and underpasses. However, the move gives much stress, especially after the passing of a young doctor’s vehicle was submerged in water in a Tamil Nadu underpass a couple of days ago. The authorities got no assistance, and her safety belt and vehicle remained stuck; this is the situation that Delhi drivers dread each time underpasses in the city become overflowed. There have been customary occurrences of individuals suffocating in the city underpasses. Presently, a tunnel associating Purana Quila Road and Mathura Road with Ring Road behind Pragati Maidan is nearing completion, along with several connected underpasses for traffic in different directions. A couple of kilometers away, the much-deferred Ashram underpass is relied upon to be functional in two or three months.
Buses submerged under the Minto Bridge underpass quite often. The other Old Delhi-New Delhi link, the Tilak Bridge, has a similar past. Numerous underpasses in distant regions go through comparable situations. Indeed, even the bustling underpass between Bhairon Marg and Ring Road was in every case loaded with water and slush during the storms. The city authorities tend to regard certain areas of Delhi as not worthy of maintenance.
A portion of the Recommendations and Conclusions are worth from the UTTIPEC Submission Stage I and II for Transit Corridor Development and Road Network/Connectivity Plan For ITPO, Mathura Road, and Ring Road, which are expressed as follows:
- Purana Quila Road ought to be augmented to a double 3-Lane tunnel by moving the Nursery mass of NDMC towards the Stadium side, which falls in Row according to the Land-use Plan.
- Purana Quila Road, close to Patiala court, ought to be made no parking Zone for on-road parking of vehicles.
- Tunnel Entry from Purana Quila Road should be directed with Cameras and VMS advance and consolation signage on India Gate and Purana Quila Road separately. Additionally, a VMS sign is likewise proposed on Ring Road with affirmation and Reassurance signage.
- In emergencies, the variable message sign should be shown with a redirection course using U-turns and contending roads in the impact region.
- Emergency Lane is given to stall vehicles and Police reconnaissance inside the tunnel. The middle opening is given away off of 60 meters up and down the tunnel for the crisis exit of vehicles. It is additionally prescribed to give reconnaissance Cameras, Telephone corners, Fire dousers, and ventilation frameworks.