Work on flyover at Garkhal junction to commence soon

Ambika Sharma

Solan, June 8

With financial bids received from three bidders being evaluated by the HP Road and Infrastructure Development Corporation (RIDC), work to construct a flyover at Garkhal junction leading to Kasauli will begin soon.

The RIDC, which is executing the Rs 22-crore project had invited bids for the second time after the state government did not approve a single bidder, which had qualified in 2023. This had delayed its execution by nearly a year.

Narrow roads a big trouble

• Since five single-lane narrow roads converge at the junction, a flyover is direly required at Garkhal junction
• Traffic snarls on these narrow roads often cause inconvenience to the tourists as well as the local residents, especially in the peak tourist season
• Kasauli is a key tourist destination of people from nearby areas like Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi

Project cost pegged at Rs 22 cr

• Larsen and Toubro surveyed the junction in June 2022 and an estimate of Rs 27 crore was prepared initially. However, the amount was later reduced to Rs 22 crore
• The flyover will take off from near the bus stand at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road and extend across the valley to the far end of the Garkhal-Kasauli road
• The 160 m structure will have two piers and two abutments with the central pier being 85 m high

RIDC Superintending Engineer Mahesh Rana, while optimistic of awarding the project in the next few weeks, said: “Financial bid of three bidders were being evaluated and the task would take three weeks and the work would be awarded by next month.”

Among the three bidders, two had participated in the bidding earlier also while one new bidder has staked claim to execute the project this time. Once awarded, the flyover will be constructed within a year’s time.

Since five single-lane narrow roads converge at the junction, a flyover is direly required at Garkhal junction. Traffic snarls on these narrow roads often cause inconvenience to the tourists as well as the local residents, especially in the peak tourist season.

Kasauli is a key tourist destination of people from nearby areas like Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

Larsen and Toubro surveyed the junction in June 2022 and an estimate of Rs 27 crore was prepared initially. However, the amount was later reduced to Rs 22 crore.

The flyover will take off from near the bus stand at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road and extend across the valley to the far end of the Garkhal-Kasauli road. The 160 m structure will have two piers and two abutments with the central pier being 85 m high.

With ribbon development, where buildings have been constructed in a continuous row along the road, there is little scope to expand the existing roads. Keeping this handicap in mind, a flyover was mooted as the lone solution.

A study undertaken by a National Green Tribunal’s panel on the carrying capacity of the Kasauli Planning Area in 2017 had also stressed the need to decongest the Garkhal junction where five roads converge. Seven years after these findings, the project was now likely to see the light of the day.

It will prove helpful, if the traffic is diverted from the Parwanoo-Dharampur section of the National Highway-5 in case of an eventuality, as the narrow junction was inadequate to bear the traffic.