Elevated road proposed to connect with new six-lane bridge

Prayagraj: An elevated road has been proposed to connect the under-construction six-lane bridge between Malak Harhar and Stanley Road with the city to solve the issue of traffic congestion at Kalash Crossing.The elevated stretch is planned from Kalash Crossing on Stanley Road to the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) crossing, covering a distance of around two kilometres. The project has gathered pace after district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma wrote to the director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Delhi, in the second week of May, seeking a practical solution for connecting the bridge without triggering a large-scale demolition on the busy Stanley Road stretch.The 9.9-km-long six-lane bridge, being built between Malak Harhar and Stanley Road, is one of Prayagraj’s key infrastructure projects and is intended to ease traffic pressure on the existing old bridge route. Its second end emerges at Kalash Crossing, where officials had earlier planned to build a conventional approach road.However, the proposal required extensive demolition in the densely built-up area between Kalash Crossing and the UPPSC crossing.

Considering the scale of likely damage and disruption, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is learnt to have dropped the approach road proposal and favoured the idea of an elevated road instead.Acting on the DM’s request, NHAI has now directed the local officials to conduct a survey for the elevated road. NHAI Prayagraj deputy manager Prakhar Singh said an agency would be selected within the next 10 days to begin the survey work.During the exercise, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared to assess the road’s feasibility, the minimum demolition required and the appropriate height of the elevated structure. The DPR is expected to take one-and-a-half to two months to complete.The proposed elevated road is being designed to allow vehicles descending from the six-lane bridge to move left smoothly without choking Kalash Crossing, said the officials. Once completed, the arrangement is expected to significantly improve traffic dispersal from the bridge and reduce the risk of jams on one of the city’s busiest corridors, while also making the new bridge more effective to improve the city’s traffic.