Noida:Resurfacing of elevated road leads to congestion around Sector 18

A day after the resurfacing of 4.8km long elevated road commenced in Noida, long snarls were seen on the stretch between Sector 18 and 61 on Monday morning during rush hour (8 to 10am).

Daily commuters complained of being delayed by snarls.

“It usually takes me 15 minutes but on Monday I reached office 40 mins after getting stuck for 25 minutes,” said a resident of Sector 19, Abhay Kumar, who was heading in his car to his office in Sector 63.

The Noida traffic police has placed multiple barricades and deployed additional personnel to tackle traffic congestion, as the entry point of Sector 18 elevated road is now closed. The traffic is diverted on the parallel road, running under the elevated road.

The Noida traffic police has said the resurfacing work is likely to be over in 45 days (from April 7).

“In the first phase, the resurfacing is to be done on the elevated road from Sector 18 to NTPC building. Due to the ongoing work, the traffic from Sector 18 to 61 is restricted,” said deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Anil Kumar Yadav, assuring that traffic from NTPC to Sector 61 will turn operational like before and commuters can take a loop to reach Elevated Road.

As the NTPC loop is operational, traffic congestion was spotted on the NTPC loop, and vehicles are crawling bumper-to-bumper to approach elevated road.

The elevated road was inaugurated in 2017 to ease traffic congestion for motorists heading towards Ghaziabad, Greater Noida from Noida and vice versa. The road also eases traffic around residential areas in sectors 33, 23, 25, 27, 26, 28, 29, and 31, among others.

But after six years, the road has become dilapidated and riddled with potholes, causing problems to commuters.

On Sunday, the Noida traffic police also issued an advisory and diverted traffic to the internal roads to avoid congestion under the elevated road. It also advised commuters to avoid the elevated road and take internal roads to reach Sector 61. However, the traffic heading from Sector 61 to 18 was smooth as usual.