New Delhi: Soon after taking office, the newly formed Delhi government has focused on one of its prominent election promises, improving the condition of Delhi’s roads. The Public Works Department (PWD) has initiated repair work on three crucial stretches that are vital for the city’s connectivity. These roads include the Outer Ring Road from the IIT flyover to Modi Mill flyover, the Akshardham Flyover to Noida border via the Noida Link Road, and the Ring Road from Bhairon Marg to Sundial Road near Maharani Bagh.
According to PWD officials, these roads are major lifelines for the National Capital Region (NCR), linking Delhi with neighbouring cities such as Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad, and Badarpur, as well as providing direct access to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. With an estimated 2 lakh vehicles traveling daily on these stretches, including heavy vehicles, traffic congestion and road damage have long been issues. The repairs, which began last week, are part of the BJP government’s 100-day action plan and are being carried out under the direction of the new Chief Minister, Rekha Gupta.
“Repairs on these roads have been pending for over a year, but now we are prioritising their completion. The goal is to fix the issues within two months,” said a senior PWD official. In 2024, the PWD had identified 6,671 potholes across Delhi, but previous repair deadlines set by the prior government were not met. Despite promises to fix potholes before Diwali, work was delayed due to election-related restrictions and pollution control measures.
Among the busiest of these stretches is the 7.2-km section of the Outer Ring Road between the IIT Flyover and the Modi Mill Flyover, which runs through prominent areas like Greater Kailash, Malviya Nagar, and CR Park. The road has been plagued by broken surfaces and potholes, causing significant traffic snarls. With heavy traffic and encroachments along the road, bottlenecks are common. PWD officials plan to overhaul the stretch by redeveloping it, with a proposal to integrate”elevated corridors and improve flyovers. However, approval for this plan is still pending. The repair work is being conducted in phases, with officials focusing first on the IIT Flyover to Chirag Dilli stretch. The work is being done at night to minimize disruptions to traffic. As part of the project, road surfaces are being scraped and new layers of bitumen are being applied. The next phase will involve the stretch from Chirag Dilli to Modi Mill Flyover.