The newly-inaugurated tunnel of the Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor project was thrown open for traffic on Monday. For a few days, traffic movement has only been allowed between 8 A.M. and 8 P.M. to observe how the facility is responding to the traffic load and also to stabilise the traffic pattern.
Officials of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) on Monday said that vehicular movement in the tunnel started in the morning. The Traffic Police and well as PWD officials will keep a close watch on the movement of vehicles to ensure that everything goes smoothly. A small prayer was also done before the opening of the tunnel and commuters were given sweets.
Commuters welcomed the opening of the tunnel. "Today I used the newly-built tunnel and it was a breezy ride to India Gate. Because of the tunnel I could ditch the traffic jam at Bhairon Marg, ITO and reached my destination on Janpath quickly," said Shishir Srivastava, resident of Patparganj in east Delhi. Earlier, commuters had to face bottlenecks at ITO, Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg and Ring Road as well while going towards central Delhi areas.
Deepak Rastogi, a commuter to Connaught Place, said he saved around 10 minutes on Monday through the tunnel. "Today I travelled through the tunnel to reach my office in Connaught Place. It was a smooth ride as I bypassed traffic snarls of ITO and Bhairon Marg. The tunnel takes you directly to India Gate passing underneath Pragati Maidan. I saved around 10 minutes," he said.
Ashima Gaur, a resident of Indirapuram in the NCR, said the tunnel will help commuters save a lot of time. "Opening of the tunnel was a dream of every motorist passing through ITO and nearby areas. We will now be able to avoid traffic snarls and reach our destinations in comparatively less time," she said.
Another commuter, Pradeep Kumar, said the tunnel will not only help people save time and money but also reduce pollution in the city. The Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor, comprising Delhi's first 1.3-km-long road tunnel and five underpasses has been built over four years. The construction work of the tunnel started in March 2018 and was scheduled to be completed by September 2019. The deadline was extended to June 2020 due to the complexities involved in construction work.
