Vehicular underpass to come up at Zirakpur-Chandigarh border soon

Zirakpur, November 21

Work on a vehicular underpass (VUP) on the national highway near the Zirakpur-Chandigarh border is set to begin in the coming days. The underpass is being built on the Zirakpur side in an area of 450m at a cost of around Rs10 crore to facilitate the movement of heavy vehicles coming from the godown area side. It will remove the permanent black spot on the highway.

As a result, traffic lights on the spot would not be required and vehicles coming from Zirakpur and Chandigarh side would have a halt-free movement, said an official at the site.

The work is being done by a Jalandhar-based company, Associated Engineers, under the supervision of National Highway Division, Public Works Department, Punjab.

Executive Engineer Yuvraj Bindra Singh said: “The purpose behind constructing the VUP is to remove the black spot from the highway. It is expected to be completed in nine months. It was noticed that several accidents were taking place due to heavy vehicles at the spot. Temporary measures were giving limited results only. Therefore, the need for an underpass was felt.”

At present, the work on diversion of the main highway is being undertaken to streamline the flow of traffic on the busy stretch, which will be followed by the construction of the vehicle underpass.

The work will lead to inconvenience to motorists on both sides of the road, but diversions are being made.

Officials said the widening of slip roads near the Chhat light points had also been undertaken by the department recently to remove the black spot. “In case, the number of road accidents do not come down, a bridge will be made for the traffic coming from the Dera Bassi side,” said the official. — TNS

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