L&T-built; flyover at Panipat opened
The 3.6 km long, India’s longest six-lane flyover at Panipat built by L&T; was recently opened to traffic by Mr. T.R. Baalu, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, in the presence of the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and other dignitaries. Located on NH-1 and a part of the 10 km Panipat Elevated Expressway Project, this flyover involved widening of the existing four-lane to six-lane for a 10-km stretch passing through the historic city of Panipat.
The elevated portion of the expressway is 3.6 km long and this passes over the central built-up Panipat section, covering Gohana Road, Sanuli Road, Assandh Road Crossings, city bus stand and Skylark Tourist Complex in the city.
A separate two-lane peripheral road with paved shoulders has also been provided on either side of the access-controlled six-lane highway for the local Panipat traffic, which will not use the elevated structure. In addition, the construction involved three underpasses to accommodate a four-lane divided carriageway, two minor bridges and widening / construction / reconstruction of culverts, drains, ducts, etc., for services.
The highlights of the project include state-of-the-art 20-lane automated toll plaza with modern amenities, on par with European countries, smart cards and automatic classification of vehicles.
The project was well conceived right from the conceptual stage in terms of traffic management, constructability and methodology of construction. Latest technologies and precast options have been widely used in the construction of deck slabs. Emphasis was not only laid on functional requirements but also on aesthetics of the flyover. For the first time in this part of the country, twisted decorative lighting poles with bird wings imported from Malaysia are used. Amidst ever increasing heterogeneous traffic, the flyover was constructed with utmost safety and was well appreciated by the local administrators.
L&T; Panipat Elevated Corridor Ltd., a special-purpose vehicle of L&T; Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd., a subsidiary of L&T;, executed the project on BOT basis.
Mr. K.V. Rangaswami, President (Construction) and member on the L&T; Board, said: “This expressway will provide a comfortable hindrance-free, smooth drive-through at Panipat, having solved major traffic problems. Besides ensuring hassle-free traffic flow throughout the Chandigarh-Delhi National Highway, this project will enhance all-round development in industrial, residential and commercial zones of Panipat City. This flyover is yet another testimony to L&T;’s commitment to create high quality urban infrastructure for national development.”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Baalu said that the Rs. 325-crore project has been completed six months ahead of schedule. It would bring relief to a large number of road users in Panipat and to the people proceeding to Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh who were earlier facing traffic jams on NH-1. The project will lead to overall development of Panipat and the adjoining areas and boost the economy of this region. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had laid the foundation for this project in April 2006 and it was scheduled to be completed in January next year.
Making a special mention of the benefit of this project particularly in the context of rising international oil prices, the Minister said that it will lead to considerable savings in travel time and fuel costs. Travelling through this particular stretch on this National Highway would take only 10 minutes which is much less than the present average travelling time of 45 minutes, he said and added that this would result in fuel saving of about 30,000 litres per day. If several other cost factors like wear and tear are taken into account, the saving would be much higher.
According to Mr. Baalu, the Union Government is committed to the rapid development of Haryana. Giving details of the road projects in the State, he said that work for four-laning of Panipat-Rohtak, Punchkula-Barwala-Saha-Yamuna Nagar and Babal-Rohtak-Jind sections has already been initiated.
Also being implemented is the 135-km long six-lane Eastern Peripheral Expressway. The Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation is constructing the 135-km long four-lane Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, also known as Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE).
Recently the work of Badarpur Elevated Highway has been awarded, and the project is scheduled to be completed before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The work of six-laning of 291 km Panipat-Jalandhar stretch, of which 107 kms is in Haryana, at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,288 crores has been awarded. Similarly, the project for six-laning of Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur section of NH-8 has also been awarded at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,673 crores. The other major projects taken up include four-laning of Delhi-Rohtak and Zirakpur-Parwanoo stretches.
Mr. Baalu reiterated the Government resolve to attach the highest priority to development and expansion of physical infrastructure, including roads and highways. “It is a matter of pride for us that while only 2,342 km of National Highways had been completed from December 2000 to May 2004 at the rate of 1.86 km per day, in the last four years, from May 2004 onwards, our Government has completed 5,948 km of National Highways at the rate of 3.96 km per day”.
The amount spent under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) has been increased from Rs. 6,093 crores by the previous regime to Rs. 18,066 crores by the present Government, representing an increase of over 196 per cent. Improvement of 5,679 km length has been completed under the Golden Quadrilateral out of the total length of 5,846 km, and works are in progress in the remaining length of 167 km.
Giving details of the other NHDP projects, Mr. Baalu observed that under the North-South and East-West corridors, works have been completed in 2,535 km length out of the total length of 7,142 km and works are under implementation in 3,786 kms length. Works of 6-laning are in progress in about 1,030 km length out of total length 6,500 kms under NHDP Phase-V.
The Government has also accorded approvals for construction of 1,000 km of Expressways under NHDP Phase-VI and construction of ring roads, flyovers and bypasses in selected stretches under NHDP Phase-VII. These projects are proposed to be completed by 2015.
In Haryana, about 339 km of National Highways have been widened to four-lane, about 283 km of National Highways are being taken up for widening to six/four lanes and project preparation for widening to six/four lanes of about 481-km length is under various stages of progress.
