manoj

With a population of 5 lakh and the number of vehicles touching 1 lakh, Noida’s infrastructure is not able to keep pace with its rapid rate of urbanisation. During peak hours, vehicles crawl and you may consider yourself lucky if you don’t get caught in a traffic jam. The problem is compounded by the absence of a proper public transport.

And the satellite town may not be able to sustain the pressure in the future with the population expected to increase to 20 lakh and the number of vehicles to 7 lakh by 2021.

According to Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) executive Piyush Kansal, presently over 4 lakh vehicle trips per day are made in Noida and by 2021 the figure will go up to 18 lakh trips a day.

If RITES is right on its statistical predictions, it’s not difficult to figure out that commuting in Noida will become a nightmarish experience by 2021. With this in view, the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) decided to act and invited RITES to design signal-free corridor to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic.

Signal-free corridors

• RITES has identified 6 corridors which could be made signal-free.
• Three Master Plan Roads — 1, 2 and 3 — in the east to west direction
• DSC Road from Indianoil Bhavan to Atta Market to Phase II
• Greater Noida-Noida Expressway, starting from the Noida Gate
• Road Number 6, starting from Model Town Police Post, next to NH-24.

Noida chief executive officer Sanjiv Saran said: ‘‘We decided to take appropriate steps while we still have some time. We have also asked RITES to study the best means of connecting Noida with Delhi. This is, after all, the very heart of the National Capital Region (NCR) concept.’’

The authorities want to ensure signal-free traffic movement on these six corridors by building 19 grade separators, including underpasses and flyovers, on them. The foundation stones for building four of separators at Sector 14A, Rajnigandha Crossing, Atta Market and Golf Course Crossing, were laid earlier this week. While the work on designs of the remaining 15 grade separators have started, construction on the following will begin in February:

Sector 14A flyover: With the traffic increasing sharply on the road on which Noida Gate is located, a flyover is being built from Sector 14A to 15A to bypass the traffic signal from where vehicles move towards the Indianoil Bhavan.

Underpass at Rajnigandha crossing along DSC Road: Traffic has grown manifold on the Delhi-Noida flyway and it’s increasing by the day.

Atta underpass along the DSC Road: Heavy traffic at the Atta crossing.

Flyover and underpass at Golf Course Crossing Road: While the flyover will help motorists coming from Kalindi Kunj to Golf Course to bypass the red light, the underpass will allow motorists to turn towards the DSC Road.

Besides building a viable infrastructure, the authorities are also planning to upgrade the public transport. In the absence of a systematic public transport in Noida and Greater Noida almost lacking it, RITES has completed a feasibility study on a rail transit system (RTS) connecting Noida with Greater Noida. Work on a detailed project report is currently under way.

The RTS route will be 54-km long, with 28 km stretch likely to be completed by 2011, and the remaining by 2015. The metro rail, which will cover a little over 7 km in Noida, will be ready by 2009.

And in the intervening period, Noida will make do with good roads and quality buses. Noida and Greater Noida have purchased 60 buses to be run by the Uttar Pradesh Transport Corporation.

Another 290 buses will be added to the UPSTRTC fleet in about a year. Many of these will be inter-city buses.

‘‘Buses and good quality roads,’’ said a NOIDA official, ‘‘will see Noida through to the time when the metro and RTS arrive.’’ The official added that parking arrangements, planned for Sector 18 and other areas, will also take care of congestion problems, pointing out that Noida authorities are trying to care of tomorrow, today.

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Delhi Edition)
Date Of Publish: 27-Dec-06

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motorbike

Future Planning that's great...traffic problem in India is a big problem...It's mandatory to plan something different like signal-free corridor.

rupali

It will certainly provide a great relief to Noida citizens.

prem

dazzlingly beautiful...